With Lewis Hamilton joining forces with Ferrari next season, Christian Horner revealed the dire dilemma the prancing horses would face.
Lewis Hamilton, Christian Horner and Charles Leclerc (images via IMAGO)
As Lewis Hamilton‘s move to Ferrari would soon become a reality, people have been wondering how the intra-team dynamics would work with Charles Leclerc. The Monegasque has been the prodigy of the Scuderia and tensions could rise between the pair. Subsequently, Red Bull supremo Christian Horner claimed that the Italian giant would soon have to bear a massive dilemma with Hamilton’s welcome.
Charles Leclerc joined Ferrari in 2019 after proving his worth to the team in his stint at Alfa Romeo(now Sauber) in 2018. He has since partnered with two teammates and has successfully led an advantageous head-to-head. On the other hand, Lewis Hamilton is statistically the greatest driver of the sport and has seven world championships.
The Briton would soon partner Leclerc at Ferrari next year and the details of his welcome at Maranello are much awaited. However, the future scarlet duo is often tipped to trip over each other by experts. This would be down to both drivers wanting No.1 status. This led Christian Horner to dawn a sense of urgency on Ferrari regarding how the team would soon face a dilemma of which driver to support and give the priority status.
A team like Ferrari, for example, next year, are going to have two drivers that are going to be taking points off each other. And which horse do you back? You have to back both of them, but that sometimes becomes divisive within a team. So different teams have different approaches to how they go about it.
Christian Horner said (via TalkSport).
Despite the concerns, Ferrari seems confident in Leclerc’s abilities. The team has backed the 27-year-old to win his maiden title soon even in the presence of Hamilton as his teammate. So, the situation looks weary for the Hamilton-Ferrari era, before even it has started.
Christian Horner revealed why Lewis Hamilton moved to Ferrari
On the other hand, leaving behind a 12-year-long alliance is not easy for any driver. With 246 starts under his belt with Mercedes, Hamilton would now be repping to wear the elusive red suit. Though this breakup was not easy, Horner conspired about the 39-year-old’s relation with the German giant.
The 51-year-old claimed that Hamilton’s relationship with Mercedes had grown stale since their 2021 title challenge. Moreover, the Briton only managed to claim two wins in a three-year spell filled with struggles.
It’s a great story for Formula One and it could be just the revitalisation Lewis has been looking for. He’s looked very flat the last three years and perhaps that relationship became a little stale.
Christian Horner said (via TalkSport)
On the other hand, Hamilton is slated to get behind the wheel of a Ferrari for the first time next month. He would drive the SF-23 at Fiorano towards the later end of January before the massive F1 livery reveal show.
