With the 2024 Components 1 season, Charles Leclerc’s seventh yr in a very powerful motorsport collection has concluded. Of those seven years, the Monegasque has spent six at Scuderia Ferrari. Within the general tally, the Monegasque driver has crushed his teammate six instances out of seven. The one one to handle to complete forward of him was Carlos Sainz in 2021, the yr the Spaniard joined the Maranello group.
Past this small element, Charles Leclerc has demonstrated excessive velocity in each circumstance and, above all, a progressive progress that has step by step smoothed out these typical youthful points that have an effect on each driver, even one of the best. His potential to handle tires and his strategic imaginative and prescient have grown through the years, bringing him to the extent of absolutely the high drivers within the class.
The widespread view is that the Monegasque is prepared, and has been for a while, to battle for the drivers’ world championship. Current historical past reveals it: when he has been given a automotive that matches the scenario, the Ferrari Academy expertise has not disenchanted. In 2022, initially of the season, Charles Leclerc duelled, unafraid of the confrontation, with Max Verstappen. He held his personal, was crushed, and beat him again.
Two champions had been battling, however at a sure level, they might depend on automobiles with differing efficiency ranges. The RB18 started reducing weight and was developed right into a powerhouse; the F1-75, suffering from reliability points and flawed developments, ended the season in fixed decline. Goals light in France, the place Charles Leclerc made a big mistake, nevertheless it was in Barcelona, with the “explosion” of the ability unit, that it grew to become clear Ferrari had misplaced the technical duel with Crimson Bull.
In brief, this little flashback serves to remind us that, when the technical situations had been good, Charles Leclerc proved that he had the energy to tackle a bulldog like Max Verstappen, the driving force who’s now universally acknowledged as one of the best on the grid.
Ferrari, Charles Leclerc world champion: Vasseur’s investiture
In a current interview with the Italian each day newspaper La Stampa, Frederic Vasseur, amongst different issues, spoke about Charles Leclerc’s potential to compete for the world title beginning subsequent yr. When requested if his driver is able to win the crown, he responded with out hesitation: “For me, sure, now he’s additionally extra mature and constant. The wins in Monte Carlo, Monza, and Austin present that he can deal with strain, he isn’t fragile in these conditions.” – the French supervisor identified.
Frederic Vasseur, if we might supply a small jab, is stating the plain. That Charles Leclerc is prepared for the title is a well-established truth, supported by a big monitor report. If he hasn’t achieved it but, it’s just because Ferrari has by no means given him a automotive able to actually combating for the massive prize.
The ball, subsequently, is now within the Maranello group’s court docket, which should lastly present that technical package deal able to matching the scenario, a automotive that Charles Leclerc can exploit to the fullest in a group that, it ought to be emphasised, is rising in different areas like organizational, managerial, and strategic ones.
That point has come. Ferrari is aware of it can not await the regulatory overhaul of 2026 however should purpose to win already subsequent yr, contemplating that efficiency convergence has lastly been achieved and that 2024 ended on an upward pattern. And, above all, understanding some rules that we’ll see in Mission 677.
Clearly, subsequent yr, Charles Leclerc’s path will face a possible impediment named Lewis Hamilton. A chance that Ferrari wished to grab to reinforce the technical energy of the driving force pair and convey that successful mentality that will have been lacking in current instances within the crimson camp.
However Fred Vasseur isn’t involved that the arrival of a seven-time world champion may create a unfavourable environment throughout the group: “I’ve good emotions. Charles and Lewis respect one another, they are going to collaborate. Charles has been conscious of the challenge from the start, he helps it, he is aware of it’s a chance for him too. Would I wager on Hamilton being world champion in 2025? I’d wager on Ferrari.” – he added.
These are feedback that recommend the Prancing Horse has achieved its homework and feels assured in lastly offering that constant automotive that may be the weapon with which Charles Leclerc – but additionally Lewis Hamilton – can carry the title again to Maranello after too a few years of drought.
— see video above —