Ferrari’s new kid on the block Charles Leclerc could break Nico Rosberg’s records if he wins at Imola this weekend.
Charles Leclerc has had a flyer start to the season. He has won two races out of the three and has a comfortable 34 points lead in the championship.
He has collected 71 points out of the possible 78 and has chances of adding more during this weekend’s first sprint race of the season.
The Monaco international could break Nico Rosberg’s title-winning 2016 records if he wins at Imola. First is the record of holding the most points after four races (105 points) and the second of having the longest lead in the championship (43 points).
Charles Leclerc will score most race points after four races
Nico Rosberg currently holds both the records during his 2016 season. He won the first four races and was 43 points ahead of his arch-rival Lewis Hamilton.
The points system was altered in the 2010 season giving 25 points to the race winner. Additionally, since the 2019 season, an extra point was awarded to the driver with the fastest lap of the race.
Now thanks to the addition of a sprint race, Leclerc will have more points to earn in comparison to Nico Rosberg’s 2016 season.
27 NOV, 2016: 🗓 ⏪
And it was @NicoRosberg who held his nerve to race to glory 🏆#F1 #OnThisDay @MercedesAMGF1 pic.twitter.com/7ShHAi9uc5
— Formula 1 (@F1) November 27, 2021
The widest gap between the leader
Taking history into consideration, only five drivers have had a lead greater than 15 points going into the fourth race. These drivers eventually won the World’s drivers championship as well.
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The F1 sprint race winner additionally gets 8 points with points extending down to the next seven places. Therefore, Charles Leclerc has 34 points to win at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari.
This could create a new record on its own and failing to score at Imola could be great news for competitor Max Verstappen.
Nico Rosberg is the only F1 racer who has garnered more points than Charles Leclerc after 3 races in an F1 season. Leclerc has registered 2 wins and 3 fastest laps.
Could this be the Ferrari season?#TheGamePlan pic.twitter.com/33AjIk1Rcn— Carol Radull (@CarolRadull) April 15, 2022