Leclerc issued key advice ahead of Hamilton battle

Seven-time grand prix winner Juan Pablo Montoya has told Charles Leclerc to play the “team game” at Ferrari when going head-to-head with Lewis Hamilton.

Leclerc has a new team-mate this year in seven-time champion Hamilton, who has made the switch from Mercedes.

Ferrari is being tipped to be a contender in the upcoming title fight after narrowly missing out on the constructors' championship last year to rivals McLaren.

While Leclerc and Hamilton will have to work together to fend off rival teams, the pair will no doubt wish to better one another across the campaign.

However, Montoya has suggested Leclerc would be better suited to doing what he can to learn from Hamilton while partnered with him.

“If Charles can play the game really smart, the team game, and understands that there’s a lot to learn from Lewis, that’ll serve him well,” Montoya told OnlineCassino.com.br.

“It’ll be hard because Charles is a very complete driver. So, it’s really hard to tell Charles that he has someone as a team-mate who is going to teach him a lot.

“That’s going to be really hard to swallow. If he can understand and respect that, he should just be nice and play along with things and say, ‘Let’s develop the car, let’s develop Ferrari to be world champion again.’

“I think it can be a big benefit because at the end of the day, if he’s there or thereabouts all year long, then he’s going to be in a shot to be winning races.

“If Lewis has a bad race, Charles can win the race. But if Lewis wins, he’s going to be second and he’s going to be there and he’s going to be adding the points. And maybe at the end of the year, Ferrari goes, how about it?”