LONDON, United Kingdom, Apr 10 – Bernie Ecclestone believes that Lewis Hamilton wouldn’t survive if he joined Ferrari, given their love for Charles Leclerc.
The 89-year-old has already encouraged Sebastian Vettel to leave the team that he believes is now Leclerc’s, and, speaking to Autocar, he’s reiterated those claims.
“Has he gone off a little bit and if so why? Probably the way he’s sort of been dealt with within the team,” he said, as reported by RaceFans.
“He was sort of number one in the team. All of a sudden the kid from nowhere that nobody’s heard of comes along and performs, and everyone fell in love with him at Ferrari.
“So I think it probably felt a little bit… I mean I’m very close with him and we don’t talk about things like that, but I think behind things, he would never say it but perhaps he feels a little bit that he’d been put on the back burner a little bit.”
The former Formula 1 boss also believes that, if Hamilton were to join Ferrari alongside Leclerc, he’d suffer the same fate as the German.
“All these guys are as good as the support they get. Lewis has got the maximum support. There’s not one thing missing from what he’s got behind him.”
“He’s used to being more or less in a lot of ways in charge. And I think if he went to Ferrari, if their number two, what they consider semi number one, continues to perform he wouldn’t survive there.
“Because if they fell in love with Leclerc, that’s what will happen. And they’d bury him.”
Ecclestone has long been against Hamilton joining Ferrari, claiming the language barrier and culture within the team would also be issues for the six-time World Champion.
