Lewis Hamilton has drawn comparisons between his rookie season at McLaren and Charles Leclerc's start at Ferrari.
Much like the Briton alongside Fernando Alonso back in 2007, Leclerc has arrived at Maranello and caused a stir while going up against an established world champion in Sebastian Vettel.
Famously, the relationship between Hamilton and Alonso grew very sour as they battled for the championship and there are already signs that the Monegasque is threatening the establishment at the Scuderia.
“I think he’s a little bit younger than I was, a year or so, but when you’re young, particularly, I remember wanting to get to Formula 1 as soon as possible,” the Mercedes driver said of Leclerc on Thursday.
“Then when I got there I wanted to win as soon as possible and beat the champion I was racing against, so it’s very very similar, so I see much of myself in Charles.
“He’s doing a great job already so far, with really high expectations at a huge team like Ferrari. He’s driving so well, he just has to keep doing what he’s doing, it’ll come to him.”
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The big difference between McLaren and Ferrari, however, is the Italian team's history of prioritising one driver, which has already seen Leclerc fall victim of team orders at two of the first three races.
“It’s not my decision to make. I don’t know,” Hamilton said when asked about the situation.
“I don’t have to run the team and I don’t have to make decisions so it doesn’t make any difference to me. I’m fighting against both of them.”
Also on Thursday, Leclerc was asked if the most recent example of team orders in China had changed how he'll approach similar requests in the future.
"It depends on the situation," he said. "Obviously there will always be team orders in Formula 1 and in some situations I will [obey them].
"I did ask [team principal Mattia Binotto], then obviously I think the answer is still the same.
"He is taking a decision on the pit wall. At the end, they have a lot more data on the pit wall than I do in the car. We'll see in the future."
