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Charles Leclerc joins Ferrari’s elite after 16th Career pole position in 2022 French GP

Tejas Venkatesh
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https://us.motorsport.com/f1/news/analysis-the-true-cost-of-rosberg-s-f1-retirement-857542/3008016/

Charles Leclerc is only behind Michael Schumacher and Niki Lauda in the list of drivers by the number of pole positions for Ferrari in F1.

Charles Leclerc will undoubtedly be one of Ferrari’s best drivers in the coming few years. The 24-year-old’s composure and style of driving show signs of a Future F1 Champion in the making.

He is a prodigy of the Ferrari driver academy. Ferrari signed him after his successful F3 championship victory in 2016. He would win the F2 title the next year and debut in F1 in 2018 with Sauber.

Leclerc joined Ferrari in 2019. And since then has been patient with the Italian team’s ups and downs in the seasons until 2022. He is well known for his aggressive driving and fast pace.

Leclerc’s pace on the weekends Qualifying sessions has been a strength of his. He has finished on pole on 16 race weekends. In fact, in only his second qualifying for Ferrari, at the 2019 Bahrain Grand Prix, he qualified in pole position.

And he has repeated his feat in the 2022 French GP weekend. He finished on pole ahead of the Red Bulls of Verstappen and Perez. He set a time of 1:30.872s and was 0.304s faster than Verstappen.

 

Leclerc thanked teammate Carlos Sainz who gave him a boost to set the time. Sainz will be starting last for the race after he took a new Power unit and other parts following his engine failure in Austria.

He said after the session, “I had the help of Carlos, and that was amazing teamwork. Without him, it would have been incredibly close. I hope he can join us back in the fight tomorrow.”

Also Read:  Charles Leclerc feels partly French after anthem goof-up in 2017 F2 Championship

Charles Leclerc is only behind Niki Lauda and Michael Schumacher on Ferrari’s list

Charles Leclerc qualified on pole for the 16th time this season. This was his 7th pole of the season and Ferrari’s first pole position at Paul Ricard since 1990.

The Circuit Paul Ricard is 2 hours away from his home in Monaco. And Charles regards the circuit as his 2nd home race. And with the recent pole, he has entered the top 3 in a rather special list.

Charles is 3rd in the list of drivers by the number of pole positions for Ferrari in F1. He is only behind the late Niki Lauda (23 poles) and 7-time World Champion Michael Schumacher (58 poles).

He has already beaten the numbers of Alberto Ascari, Felipe Massa and Sebastian Vettel this season. But Leclerc will hope to do more than just set the pole position time.

The Monegasque has been noted as a challenger for the 2022 title. He is 2nd in the driver’s championship as of now and is 38 points behind leader and reigning champion Max Verstappen.

Also Read: Charles leclerc spends $6000 helmet to give tribute to Jules bianchi and parents

About the author

Tejas Venkatesh

Tejas Venkatesh

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Tejas Venkatesh is a Motorsports writer at The SportsRush. He started watching F1 in 2007 and fell in love with the sound of the revving V8s. A technical nerd, tejas loves to nerd over the technical beauty only motorsports can achieve. He calls himself a Vettel fanboy and spent the night crying after Hockenheim 2018. Apart from F1, Tejas is an avid Chelsea Fan and loves football.

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