Charles Leclerc made his way into F1 with the Sauber F1 team in the 2018 season after winning the F2 championship in 2017 with Prema Racing.
Leclerc moved to Ferrari in the 2019 season and ever since then, the Monegasque has been tipped as the driver who would bring the glory of championship titles back to the Maranello Squad.
Though his rival from Formula 2, Oliver Rowland thinks that Leclerc wouldn’t have been able to clinch the F2 title had his luck played out right.
Speaking exclusively to the GP blog, Rowland recalled that he was second in F2 and he got disqualified in the last race apart from three other times he got DSQd during the season. He said that he was up at the front and he was the only one who could challenge Leclerc.
Rowland now is a Formula E driver preparing for the first E-Prix of the season in Mexico. The Briton revealed that after Leclerc, he also raced against Alex Albon in F2 and while he admits that these drivers who made it to F1 are good, he believes that he could’ve battled against them pretty well.
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The title battle will not be between Charles Leclerc and Max Verstappen
The Scuderia had the fastest car at the beginning of the 2022 season while Red Bull was struggling with reliability problems.
However, as the season progressed Red bull’s chief engineer Adrian Newey figured out his way around the RB18 which saw Verstappen claim the title against Ferrari’s Leclerc with 4 races left to go.
Former F1 driver Jean Alesi believes that heading into the 2023 season, the title battle won’t be fought between Leclerc and Verstappen but instead between Newey and Ferrari.
Alesi explained that because Newey is one of the best engineers in F1, he has been improving the car over the season with only small changes.
This is why Alesi thinks that the Scuderia should consider Newey as a factor in the battle for the championship.
GP da Áustria – 2019
🇳🇱 Max Verstappen vs. 🇲🇨 Charles Leclerc pic.twitter.com/0wzvOZm7A7
— Ultrapassagens e disputas na F1 (@F1Tododia) February 4, 2022
Mercedes won’t make the same mistake twice
The Silver Arrows did not come out on the right side of the 2022 technical regulations with the W13. Although as the season progressed, the team were able to find some solutions to their problem which also led George Russell to take the victory in Brazil.
Going ahead into the 2023 season, the Brackley-based team is hopeful that they will make a return to the top of the grid.
Alesi, too, is quite positive that the team will not make the same mistake twice in designing a car.
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