Channel 4 pundit David Coulthard says Lewis Hamilton should be concerned by the quality of Ferrari's opposition this year, with Sebastian Vettel and Charles Leclerc representing a "dangerous" duo for the Brit.
Ferrari and Vettel have come up short against Mercedes and Hamilton in the past two seasons, in large part because of the mistakes suffered by the Scuderia and its star driver.
But the German driver didn't always have a team mate on his side capable of pushing him and supporting his efforts against the almost flawless and consistent Silver Arrows squad.
Coulthard believes Leclerc's speed will force Vettel to step up his performance which in turn will benefit Ferrari as a whole.
"As far as Lewis is concerned, the pairing of Sebastian and Charles has a much more dangerous look to it, in my opinion, than that of Sebastian and Kimi," the former F1 driver told the Daily Mirror.
"I didn't see Kimi winning too many races last season – and that was the way it turned out.
"But I would be mightily surprised if Charles isn't spraying that champagne all over the podium on at least a couple of occasions this year."
©Ferrari
Ferrari's strength will therefore be generated from within contends Coulthard, on the back of an internal rivalry that could also provide the Italian outfit with a united front.
"He [Leclerc] is young enough, enthusiastic enough and fast enough to be pushing Sebastian onwards. And that will keep not just Seb on his toes, but Lewis as well," adds the Scot.
"Ferrari did not always play their best hand last season. I'm not sure Seb and Kimi would feel that they received the optimum support.
"If they are to really give Lewis something to think about, the team is going to have to push themselves that little bit more – and so are the drivers."
Gallery: The beautiful wives and girlfriends of F1 drivers
Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter
