Italian Journalist Claims Charles Leclerc’s Love for Ferrari is Possibly Making the Monegasque the “Biggest Regret” in F1

Charles Leclerc had a disastrous end to his United States Grand Prix weekend, having begun it on a positive note. The Monegasque grabbed pole position during Friday’s qualifying session before finishing the sprint in the final podium spot. However, most of the 26-year-old’s efforts went in vain after he got disqualified in the main race. As Leclerc continues to struggle despite having immense talent, an Italian journalist believes that it is because of the Monegasque‘s love for Ferrari that he is turning into one of F1’s “biggest regrets“.

Leclerc has had a difficult 2023 season as he has been massively inconsistent. At times, he has performed brilliantly in this campaign and even finished on the podium. Meanwhile, on other occasions, he has suffered massively and even struggled to have a double-digit points-scoring finish.

Moreover, Leclerc has also found it difficult to match Ferrari teammate Carlos Sainz this season. The Spaniard is currently fifth in the championship with 171 points, 20 points clear of seventh-placed Leclerc and is chasing Fernando Alonso for fourth.

Italian journalist explains what Charles Leclerc needs to succeed

Last season, Charles Leclerc had an outstanding start to the campaign as he registered a couple of victories after just the first few races. However, this year, his hopes for fighting for the championship seemingly ended before it even began. Ferrari were way off the pace during pre-season testing and many already knew that they are unlikely to be able to match current champions Red Bull.

Even though the Prancing Horse have consistently struggled to produce a championship-winning car, Leclerc has always yet demonstrated his keenness of wanting to win only with the Italian outfit. However, it is the Monegasque’s loyalty that makes Italian journalist Carlo Vanzini believe that the 26-year-old can turn out to be one of F1’s “biggest regrets“.

As quoted by formula1.it, the 52-year-old wrote for Autosprint, “He is risking becoming one of the biggest regrets of this modern Formula 1. But his love for the red car goes beyond everything and it is also up to him to ensure that when the car is there, as he has already amply demonstrated, he will be there to compete“.

However, Vanzini believes that it is not just the car that has to be strong for Leclerc to win but that the “people around him” must also be able to work well with him. Even though the Italian journalist acknowledges that Leclerc is extremely talented, he fears that the former Sauber driver is losing some of his skill sets because of his loyalty to Ferrari.

Vanzini believes Ferrari have cost Leclerc repeatedly

Carlo Vanzini believes that Ferrari have repeatedly made strategic blunders that have cost Charles Leclerc important points-scoring finishes on various occasions during his career. The Italian journalist pointed out last year’s Hungarian GP as an example when a wrong call from the Prancing Horse resulted in Leclerc falling from the lead to sixth place.

While the 26-year-old has repeatedly expressed his frustrations when things have gone wrong, he does believe that current team principal Fred Vasseur is the right man to get Ferrari back to the front. Having worked with Vasseur previously at Sauber, Leclerc is aware of how good the Frenchman is in his job.

However, it is the massive gap to Red Bull at the moment that could be a huge hurdle for any of the other teams to overcome. Since the Milton Keynes outfit have been so dominant this season with 17 victories from 18 races, they are also likely to enter the next campaign as the favorites.