Charles Leclerc was only 10 years old when Lewis Hamilton made his Formula One debut for McLaren in 2007. And just 11 when his soon-to-be Ferrari team-mate won his maiden world title the following season; on the final corner of the final lap of the final race.

You might think that historic moment – the sport’s first black driver, a generational talent and hero to millions of young karters around the world, winning the world title – would make an impression on a motorsport-mad boy growing up in Monaco, the playground of Formula One’s elite. But you would be wrong.

“Actually I think I’m a bit of an outlier in the paddock, because I didn’t really watch Formula One growing up,” Leclerc confesses when I ask for his earliest memories of the man he will soon be calling his team-mate.

“Every weekend I had free, I was with my father on a karting track, and we’d just drive. That’s what I loved doing most. So actually, I don’t have many memories of watching F1 or Lewis in his first seasons.

“I do remember a bit, the reaction to what happened [at Interlagos]. Everyone being like ‘That was completely crazy!’ But you know, you’re young. Monday I was at school, and I never really got to see it again. It’s very different to, I think, every other driver in the paddock, in that I was just so focused on my own thing and enjoyed so much what I was doing, I didn’t really take an interest…”

‘The motivation for Hamilton at Ferrari will be crazy’

Safe to say Leclerc is taking a close interest in Hamilton now. Sitting in Ferrari’s paddock home, surrounded by red shirts and hats to sign, Leclerc is well aware that the now seven-time world champion is about to turn his – and the team’s – life upside down.

If he is concerned about the impact the arrival of Hamilton might have, he is playing it very cool. The Monegasque, who made history on Friday when he and younger brother Arthur became the first brothers to participate in a practice session as team-mates, is for the moment more concerned with the constructors’ championship battle this weekend in Abu Dhabi. Ferrari begin the weekend just 21 points behind leaders McLaren and Leclerc believes “everything is possible”, although since speaking he has been handed a 10-place grid penalty for a battery change, which seriously hurts the Scuderia’s chances.

Whatever happens this weekend, though, Leclerc accepts scrutiny on him is going to increase tenfold next year once Hamilton decamps to Maranello.

Formula One’s most successful driver has endured a torrid final season at Mercedes and many believe Ferrari are splashing out £50 million a year on a busted flush. Hamilton will be 40 by the time Melbourne rolls around next March and some of the language he has used recently – “I’m definitely not fast any more” in Qatar last weekend a notable example – had a note of despair about it. But Leclerc does not think so.

“I think the boost of motivation he’ll get coming into a team like Ferrari will be crazy,” he predicts. “Lewis is still exceptional. It’s been a tough season for Mercedes as a team. I think they’ve been struggling with the car, and they explored a little bit like we did for those three races after Monaco, where you are exploring with the set-up, and that doesn’t help any of the drivers, and that makes it very, very difficult. Confidence is everything in Formula One.

“But I have no doubts at all that I’ll be facing peak Lewis Hamilton, and that it will be an extremely huge challenge.”

‘I have no doubts about Lewis’s ability’

Leclerc would be expected to say that. A polite, well-brought-up boy (at least when he is not swearing over the radio as he was in Las Vegas when told by his pit wall that team-mate Carlos Sainz would not pass him, only for the Spaniard to do exactly that), he is hardly going to write off the challenge of a Formula One legend before they have even teamed up.

But it is also a sensible take. Hamilton could well rediscover his mojo at Maranello. As he showed at Silverstone and again in Las Vegas, when he feels confident with the car, he is still a force to be reckoned with.

Leclerc must feel confident, though, especially given George Russell’s dominance over his team-mate in qualifying this season. The younger Mercedes man has a 23-6 advantage in their qualifying head-to-head this year, and one F1 driver, who shall remain anonymous, told Telegraph Sport earlier this year that Leclerc would “wipe the floor” with Hamilton on Saturdays.

Again, Leclerc is diplomatic. “I don’t know what’s going on there,” he says of Hamilton’s one-lap struggles. “Obviously I can see the results. But to be honest, it’s very difficult for me to judge a situation when I don’t know what’s going on. But again, I have no doubts in Lewis’s capability and how good he is.”

‘My only goal left to tick off is the F1 title’

Leclerc is more confident when talking about himself. The son of a racing driver, Hervé, who competed in Formula Three in the 1980s and 1990s, and a former hairdresser, Pascale, his early career was marked by tragedy. First his godfather, former F1 driver Jules Bianchi, died nine months after crashing at the 2014 Japanese Grand Prix. Then, when Leclerc was in F2 in 2017, his father also passed away, aged just 54, after a long illness.

Leclerc has often spoken about the impact those experiences had on him at such a young age. But a decade on from Bianchi’s crash he now feels he is in “the best place” he has ever been “both mentally and physically”, adding he has “maximised the car’s potential” this year.

Leclerc has certainly been more consistent. He has been on the podium 12 times this year, a record for him, while it might surprise some to learn that since Spa, Leclerc has actually won more points than any other driver on the grid: 164 compared to 152 for Verstappen and 150 for Norris.

In short, Leclerc believes he is ready for a world title shot. “That’s my only dream now,” he says. “Winning at Monaco was one of my biggest dreams. Winning at Monza was one of my biggest dreams. Driving for Ferrari was one of my biggest dreams. But now I’ve ticked all these boxes there’s only one left, and that is to become the Formula One world champion. I feel ready.”

One thing he has never been is in a title fight. Not really. He was for a brief period in 2022, only for Ferrari to fall away. But Leclerc argues that simply driving for the Scuderia – as he has his entire career, apart from his debut season in 2018 when he was loaned out to Sauber – means he is inured to pressure.

“Ferrari is a very special environment, and the fact that I’ve known that so early in my career, that has helped me in some kind of ways, because you are straight away under the spotlight.

“It wasn’t so easy to manage that at the beginning, but you get used to it. And when I was speaking about the step in mentality earlier, that’s exactly what I meant. Not only from my side, but from the whole team.

“To not be too affected by outside noises is super important in Formula One, because you’re only as good as your last race. And especially when you are in Ferrari, that makes it very difficult, because if you are very much affected by what’s going on around, emotionally it’s very difficult to manage. And I felt like this was what was happening in the past. But I don’t think it’s still the case. I think Fred [Vasseur, Ferrari’s team principal since 2023] has a lot to do with that.”

But is he ready for the Hamilton madness? That is the big question. Driving for Ferrari is one thing, but driving for Ferrari alongside Hamilton, with all the attendant media interest, the sponsor interest, the entourage, the polemics, is quite another. Leclerc, who recently posted a video of himself taking a Rafale supersonic jet for a spin as part of a day out with French Air and Space Force, smiles.

“I think so,” he says. “I’m excited. I think everybody’s excited. Ferrari is so big in itself, and obviously to have a legend of Formula One like Lewis joining the team will bring even more spotlight to a team that already, probably, has more spotlights in the paddock. But on my side, the best thing I can do is to focus on my own job and try to deliver in the best possible way. As I say, I’ve got a lot of respect for Lewis, and it’s not going to be easy. But I’m really motivated for that.” It is going to be fascinating watching them compete to be Ferrari’s top gun.