Charles Leclerc has been involved in the Ferrari ranks for most of his junior career. He won the 2017 F2 Championship as a junior driver for the Scuderia, and it got him a seat at Sauber during his debut campaign the following year.
After just a year in F1, he completed his dream move to Ferrari and is often labeled as the driver who will bring Championship glory back to the town of Maranello. So far, Leclerc has not been able to pose a serious threat to the Championship but that’s hardly his fault. He never had a Title-winning car at his disposal but has still put in some amazing performances to get 5 race wins with the prancing horses.
2022 was the first time Leclerc got a car that could consistently fight for wins. At the start of the season, the F1-75 was arguably the strongest car and he seemed like the favorite to win the Title. However, as the season progressed, reliability problems began showing up. On top of that, there were multiple errors made by the Ferrari strategy team that cost them a lot of points.
In spite of these problems, Leclerc never publicly held his team accountable for these goof-ups.
Also read: “I hope I don’t return to racing in 2 years” – Sebastian Vettel does not rule out an F1 comeback
Charles Leclerc focuses more on mistakes made by him
Even though the focus has been more on Ferrari’s errors, Leclerc himself made a few costly mistakes this season. Red Bull’s performance kept getting better race after race and beating Max Verstappen on track got difficult after a point.
However, there were opportunities where Leclerc could have made things more difficult for the Dutchman. The most famous example is that of Leclerc’s spin at the 2022 French GP. He was in a commanding position to win the race, which could have put pressure on his rival. Unfortunately, his spin resulted in a DNF which presented Verstappen with an unprecedented advantage.
Leclerc was the first person to admit that his accident in Le Castellet was purely his fault. The 24-year-old is a firm believer of holding himself accountable for mistakes he makes. On top of that, he never wants to call Ferrari out for their errors, at least in public.
