Horner issues ‘divisive’ Hamilton and Leclerc warning to Ferrari

Lewis Hamilton’s inter-team battle with Charles Leclerc could prove “divisive” within Ferrari in F1 2025, says Red Bull team boss Christian Horner.

Both Ferrari and Red Bull go into the F1 2025 season sporting new driver line-ups, with Hamilton making the move from Mercedes to partner Charles Leclerc, while Liam Lawson has been promoted to Red Bull as the Max Verstappen team-mate replacement for Sergio Perez.

Christian Horner sees ‘divisive’ Ferrari driver risk

Horner explained to talkSPORT that four-time World Champion Verstappen is their “lead driver” with Lawson to provide the “strength in depth” as Red Bull look to regain the Constructors’ crown.

And Horner has compared the approach of Red Bull to Ferrari, suggesting the lack of a driver hierarchy could cause the team headaches as Hamilton chases a record eighth title, while homegrown Ferrari star Leclerc looks to prove he has all along been the driver that can bring title glory back to Maranello.

“We’re perhaps slightly different to other teams where we go: ‘Do you know what? Max Verstappen is the most valuable asset in Formula 1. He’s our lead driver. If you can get close to him, fantastic. But the reality is the expectation is for Max to win,” Horner added.

“A team like Ferrari next year, for example, 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.

“Different teams have different approaches.”

Explained: The key players at Red Bull

👉 Inside Red Bull: Christian Horner and the other major players in Red Bull’s hierarchy

👉 Helmut Marko: The Red Bull motorsport boss with a fearsome reputation

However, the prospect of a driver feud headache has already been brought up to and knocked back by Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur.

Like when Carlos Sainz was alongside Leclerc, Vasseur wants to free Hamilton and Leclerc to race as he sees that as beneficial for Ferrari’s performance, rather than a hindrance.

Asked if Hamilton versus Leclerc for the F1 2025 title would be a ‘happy headache’, Vasseur told Sky F1: “Yeah, I prefer to fight for one, two than for 19, 20, this is clear.

“And I think it’s also part of the performance, clearly. The last two years I let them race on track and it was for the benefit of the team, because the emulation that we created like this was part of the recovery when we had tough times.

“And they had huge respect between them and we had a good moment this morning with the father of Carlos [in a farewell test at Fiorano] and it was very nice.

“It’s part of the performance of the team.”

Sainz put pen to paper on a multi-year deal with Williams, having known before the F1 2024 season started that Hamilton was to take his Ferrari seat.

Read next: Lewis Hamilton influence remains in early Mercedes W16 hint