Hamilton says he sees much of himself in Ferrari's Leclerc

Lewis Hamilton says Ferrari's Charles Leclerc reminds him of himself in his own debut season in Formula 1. When Hamilton worked with two-time World Champion Fernando Alonso in his rookie F1 season, his competitiveness sparked major conflict at McLaren and caused Alonso to leave the team after only one year. The disappointment was kickstarted by a team order that denied Hamilton the chance to win the Monaco Grand Prix at the first endeavour. Leclerc is in his first season racing for Ferrari and has been reduced to team orders in all three races so far this year. During the Chinese Grand Prix Leclerc’s teammate, Sebastian Vettel was allowed to overtake his younger team-mate in order to catch the Mercedes pair of Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas. But it quickly became apparent that Leclerc was quicker than Vettel. Ferrari refused to let their new driver back past the four-time world champion though. The German ended up finishing third with Leclerc down in fifth. Red Bull’s Max Verstappen managed to split the Ferrari pair. "For sure, I think he's a bit younger than I was by a year or two, but absolutely I can see it,” said Hamilton. "I remember wanting to get to F1 as soon as possible and then, when I got there, I wanted to win as soon as possible and I wanted to beat the champion that I was racing against. "So, it's very, very similar. I see much of myself in Charles. He's doing a great job so far with really high expectations at a huge team like Ferrari, but he's driving so well. So, he just has to keep doing what he's doing... It will come to him. My philosophy as a racing driver has always been that I want an equal opportunity with whoever I'm racing, so I can truly show my ability," he said. "I got to F1 and ...you have a couple of scenarios, where you've had multiple world champions, who demand number one positions and therefore you become a number two and (take) a supporting role... While that's a privileged position to be in it goes against your core values, because you're a racing driver at heart. "That's why I can understand how Charles feels. Because in his heart he believes he's the best or has the potential to be the best... it's almost like having your light dimmed. So as a competitor, you naturally kind of rebel. They say to do one thing, but the fighter in you wants to go the other way." Formula 1 is screeching towards Azerbaijan Grand Prix, the fourth race in the 2019 season. The race will take place on Sunday, April 28 in Baku City Circuit.

Source- Wheels24

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