LECLERC PUTS OUT WELCOME MAT FOR LEW

CHARLES LECLERC has already held discussions with Lewis Hamilton as the Ferrari star prepares to welcome the Brit legend to the Scuderia.

Hamilton will leave Mercedes after the upcoming season to join Ferrari for the 2025 campaign.

His team-mate at the Italian giants will be Leclerc (above), who has cemented himself as their No.1 driver, though that may change with Hamilton arriving.

But as he prepares for the challenge of having the seven-time world champion (below) as a teammate, Leclerc is doing everything he can to make Hamilton’s transition as smooth as possible.

Speaking at Ferrari’s 2024 launch event yesterday, Leclerc, 26, said: “Lewis is an incredible driver, the most successful in history, and he brings a lot of experience to the team which is a good thing. I have had discussions with Lewis especially when everything was announced and official. We texted each other. Lewis is a great champion with so much success. It is always interesting to have a new team-mate, because you learn different ways of driving and working, and even more so when my new team-mate is a seven-time world champion.”

Hamilton’s arrival means that as it stands Leclerc’s current team-mate Carlos Sainz will be without a seat in 2025. But the Spaniard, 29, is expected to be quickly snapped up, having impressed since joining the Italians from McLaren.

Sainz was caught off-guard by Hamilton’s capture, and admitted: “I was a bit surprised, like everyone in the F1 world. I got to know a bit earlier and I had some weeks to reflect and prepare. That gave me a bit of time to digest it and to draw my own conclusions and to focus on the 2024 season.”

Sainz, the only driver outside of Red Bull to claim a victory last year, added: “My next team, I don’t know yet and I have time to decide when that happens next. There are plenty of options out there.

“I am approaching the most important three or four years of my career and I want to make sure that I am in the right place.

“The fact that I am not going to be a Ferrari driver in 2025 does not mean we don’t want to become champions together this year or win races.”