“I will organize a dog fight next year with Roscoe and Leo": Ferrari boss’ unserious banter with Charles Leclerc

Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur claimed that he would organize a fight between Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc's dogs, Roscoe and Leo, respectively, next year. The seven-time world champion will join the Italian team at the beginning of the 2025 season and make his highly anticipated move to Maranello.

The British driver surprised everyone after he announced that he would depart Mercedes at the end of the 2024 season after 12 years with them. The 39-year-old will race alongside Charles Leclerc in the Scuderia, with both drivers mentioning that they were looking forward to being teammates.

However, in an event recently, the Ferrari team principal hilariously mentioned that apart from their on-track battles, he would also organize a fight between the dogs of the two drivers. He said:

“I will organize a dog fight next year with Roscoe and Leo."

However, during the British GP earlier in the season, Leclerc had pointed out that he wanted Leo and Hamilton's dog Roscoe to be 'friends' since the former did not have many. He said to Sky Sports:

"I wanted to text Lewis to make them [Roscoe/Leo] meet. Leo is still very young, he doesn‘t have that many dog friends, so I will try to improve his social life a little bit."

Charles Leclerc gives his take on Lewis Hamilton joining Ferrari

Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc stated that it was amazing for him that Lewis Hamilton would join the Italian team and be his teammate in the 2025 season, given the amount of experience the 39-year-old possesses.

While appearing on the F1 Beyond the Grid podcast, the Monagasque native said:

“Obviously for me it's going to be amazing because I’ll have in the same car as me the most successful driver in F1 history. That will be both extremely interesting for me to learn from one of the best ever, as well as a really big challenge and motivation to beat Lewis and to show what I'm capable of."

"With Lewis joining the team, he will definitely be a benchmark so it will be very important for me to be on my top level. When a champion like Lewis gets to any team, it brings a lot of motivation out of every single person. He will come along with all the experience that he's had over the years with Mercedes – a different way of working, a different vision – and this is always benefitting a team,” he said.

Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc have already had some legendary battles on the track, such as Monza 2019 and Silverstone 2022, where they went wheel to wheel for a number of laps to fight for race wins and podiums.