Hamilton will fight Leclerc ruthlessly. Which Ferrari team-mate has most to gain? 

Moreover Leclerc is now in his sixth season at the Scuderia, and the team is still making mistakes, still squandering the inherent advantages of what has at times seemed to be the quickest car on the track. And Charles must take his share of the blame for that: the greatest drivers – the Schumachers and Hamiltons – lift everyone around them, thereby helping build teams that are so good, so consistent that they are capable of winning even when they don’t have the quickest car. So it would seem Charles Leclerc has far more to lose than gain by having Lewis as a team-mate.

Except this: I don’t believe a word of it. I think that whatever a move to Ferrari has done for Lewis Hamilton’s chance of taking the title, it’s done even more for those of Charles Leclerc.

For a start when a Lewis Hamilton joins the team, everyone raises their game. Do you really think Nico Rosberg would have won the title in 2016 without the role Lewis played in creating the world beating team for which they raced? I don’t. So Charles will benefit as much as Lewis if this happens.

Then there is the age thing, and it cannot be ignored. Yes, F1 is an easier place for an older driver to be these days, but the simple truth is that just two people in the history of F1 have won titles while older than Lewis will be at the end of his first season at Ferrari, and the most recent of them won 67 years ago. Lewis will be in his 40s when he drives a Ferrari in anger for the first time; at the same time Charles will be 27. And even if Lewis is not slowing down, it’s surely inconceivable that he’ll be getting any faster, while Charles is entering his prime.

If we do the same comparison to team-mates, in Charles’ six seasons to date, he’s been outpointed just once, a near identical success rate to Lewis.

All this, mind, without including the single most significant aspect of all: the Maranello factor. Ferrari is a company like no other in the world and the usual rules don’t apply. Even when I drive a Ferrari supplied by the company I have to sign a piece of paper that starts ‘test driving a Ferrari is always a unique and special experience…’ before they’ll let me in the car. In racing terms, you don’t race a Ferrari like you might race a Red Bull or a Mercedes, you race for Ferrari and the distinction is crucial. It is always Ferrari first and whether Lewis Hamilton will thrive in that environment or, like others, find it all rather frustrating remains to be seen. The only exception was probably the Michael Schumacher era when he teamed with Ross Brawn, Rory Byrne and Jean Todt to create the most successful period in the Scuderia’s history in Formula 1.

And finally a small but, I think significant point. So far as I am aware Lewis doesn’t speak Italian while Charles is fluent and was born within ten miles of the border. So unless Lewis is going to be spending quite a lot of time at night school over the next 12 months, he will be going to a team where his team-mate understands not just every formal briefing but, as important, every aside, whisper, mutter and joke in the pit garage.

In the meantime Charles will learn far more from Lewis than vice versa about all aspects of racing beyond simply banging in a quick lap than Lewis will ever learn from Charles. Warrior-competitor that he is, Lewis will fight with everything he has to stay on terms with Charles, but the more I look at it, the more I am convinced it is Leclerc that has far more to gain from having Hamilton as his team-mate than vice-versa.