Charles Leclerc warned not to ‘sign his own death warrant’ with huge Lewis Hamilton decision when he joins Ferrari

CHARLES LECLERC has been warned against signing his “own death warrant” at Ferrari if he allows Lewis Hamilton to be the number one driver.

Ferrari announced the shock transfer of the 39-year-old from Mercedes to the Scuderia for the 2025 Formula One season.

But former McLaren mechanic and Wheeler Dealers star Marc “Elvis” Priestley has warned Ferrari favourite Leclerc, 26, to stand his ground when the seven-time world champion joins the team next year.

Speaking to OLBG, Priestley said: “Leclerc can’t afford to let Hamilton come in and be the main man at Ferrari.

“Leclerc is reasonably experienced now, he has a few years under his belt and is not a rookie.

“If a driver accepts they’re going to be the second driver of the team, you sign your own death warrant and lose performance from that.

“Leclerc needs to come into the team next year, thinking he’ll be better than Hamilton.”

Priestly, who was part of McLaren’s pit crew between 2000 and 2009 – meaning he saw Hamilton’s and Fernando Alonso’s less than ideal dynamic in 2007 – also explored how their relationship could develop over the season.

He said: “F1 is a sport in which a huge part is technical with that car, but a huge part is the driver’s confidence in his own ability.

“My experience from driving pairing, particularly new ones, is they will be best of friends in the beginning and have massive respect for each other.

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“But that can all change if Hamilton and Leclerc are competing for a title against each other.”

Hamilton saw a title battle with best friend Nico Rosberg morph into a bitter and toxic exchange across three years together at the Silver Arrows between 2014 and 2016.

Priestley admitted the Hamilton and Leclerc rivalry could end up being something similar.

He added: “Could Charles Leclerc be the next Nico Rosberg when Lewis Hamilton joins Ferrari? You never know.

“A good example of that was the ‘duel in the desert’ in 2014, they battled and swapped positions multiple times.

“They got out of their cars and joked about it, high-fived each other and said how great of a race it was.

“But that didn’t continue for very long because there was a championship at stake, the guy who you’re hugging early in the season becomes your enemy.

“Rosberg and Hamilton had great respect towards each other until they became rivals in a championship, and the same could happen with Leclerc.”

Leclerc finished third at last weekend’s Miami GP as Lando Norris held off Max Verstappen for his first ever race win in F1.

The next race at Imola is the first of two Ferrari home races in Italy.

Ferrari academy driver Oliver Bearman will be driving a Haas that weekend in Free Practice One.

Source: Motorsport - thesun.co.uk