Charles Leclerc has long been tipped as the potential F1 world champion and the man who could bring glory back to Ferrari.
The Monegasque won his first race with the Maranello squad at the 2019 Belgian Grand Prix and it became the first time that Il Predestinato or ‘The Predestined’ was used as his nickname to describe his epic drive.
Leclerc was given this nickname by Italian F1 journalist Carlo Vanzini and he has now explained how did it come about.
It all dates back to the time when Leclerc was 15 years old and still trying to make his way into F1 and had an interaction with Vanzini.
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“No way my teammate would battle for the title instead of me” – Charles Leclerc
Sky Italia’s Vanzini said that the nickname became famous after Leclerc’s win in Monza in 2019 but he had used it in Spa as well and had been using the nickname even before that when he was in Alfa Romeo.
The Italian revealed that the team had brought the 15-year-old Leclerc to Sky for some sort of media training.
They had a meeting together and a press conference simulation where Vanzini asked him something like “you’re starting on pole but your teammate is fighting for the title, what would you do?”
Young Leclerc replied, “I race to win.” So the media team had a conversation and came up with a diplomatic answer like, “I’ll focus on my race, but I’ll help the team whenever necessary.”
However, Leclerc went to Vanzini afterwards and said that the question he had asked was wrong. Because “there is no way that my teammate would be the one fighting for the title and not me,” the young Monegasque said.
Leclerc aims to win with Ferrari
Recently, rumours suggested that Mercedes wanted to secure the 5-time GP winner’s services in the 2024 season.
When asked about these rumours, the Monegasque said that 2024 is still far away and that being at Ferrari had always been his dream.
“My objective at the moment is to win with Ferrari and then we’ll see,” he added showing his loyalty to the Scuderi.
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