Charles Leclerc denies that the 14-year-long drought has brought him under pressure to perform for Ferrari and win the title in 2022.
After a couple of years of struggling in F1, Ferrari is back in the game to compete for the championship. The Maranello-based team’s car is arguably the fastest car on the grid.
However, their season is still marred with reliability issues and strategic blunders. The season looks out of Ferrari’s hands at 93 points behind their rival, Red Bull.
Thus, a question arises whether the drought of 14 years is taking a toll on Ferrari. The Italian side last won the title in 2008 and has been vying for it but never succeeding since then.
So, it was asked their star driver Charles Leclerc whether all this wait is building pressure on them this year. To which Leclerc responded that it’s untrue.
“I mean, I don’t think about this,” said Leclerc. “Even though Ferrari remains Ferrari of 2000, the team is very different, and we are [in] a different place now.”
“The last few years have been very difficult for us [Ferrari slipped to sixth in the 2020 Constructors’ Championship]. We made an incredible step from last year to this year to fight for wins; obviously, the goal remains to be World Champion.”
“It remains the same goal for me, even though that will now be more difficult. But it doesn’t add pressure that it has been so many years, and we haven’t won,” he added.
Also read: Fernando Alonso forgot 20 years of his life after a 200 km/h crash in Pre-season testing
Charles Leclerc also has low chances against Max Verstappen
In his fourth season with Ferrari, Leclerc was all set to finally challenge for the championship. However, he lost a massive number of points due to the errors made by Ferrari’s strategic team and the reliability blunders that happened during a few races.
The only time Leclerc can be blamed for losing crucial points was when he lost control of his car during the French GP. Otherwise, Ferrari has mostly been at blame for slipping away the title.
Max Verstappen holds a significant lead of 83 points over Leclerc, and even if the Dutchman comes second in every remaining race, he still gets to lift the title.
Also read: 10 Grand Prix winner Valtteri Bottas doesn’t think he is yet to touch his best time in F1
