Leclerc believes Hamilton showed that newcomers can perform in top teams

New Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc believes that Lewis Hamilton's debut season in Formula One proves that he can do the same when he starts racing for Scuderia next season.

Leclerc was recently announced as Kimi Raikkonen's replacement for the Italian giants next season, after not even a season completed in F1 yet.

The Sauber youngster says that Hamilton's example shows that inexperienced drivers can perform well straight away in the top cars.

"I think this is a big question mark for a lot of people, whether I'm ready or not," Leclerc said to RaceFans.net. "Whether I'm ready or not, I can't tell. But I think that if you see obviously he arrived the first year and straight away was there.

Despite Leclerc's thoughts, he knows how important it is to perform at a high level on a consistent basis.

"If next year I don't have the results good enough to stay in Ferrari then it will be normal if I downgrade," he added. "But then I don't deserve a Ferrari seat. This is how I see things."

Raikkonen will be heading in the opposite direction to Leclerc as he looks ahead to what's on the horizon at Ferrari.