One question that always circulates Formula 1 is who will be a future World Champion? We typically see names such as Verstappen, Russell, Norris etc… But what about Charles Leclerc?
The Monegasque driver burst onto the F1 scene in just 2018, he started his career driving for Sauber, now labeled as Alfa Romeo, and preceded to stay there until 2019 where he had secured his dream and emotional move to Ferrari in for Kimi Raikkonen and pairing up alongside 4-time World Champion Sebastian Vettel. He still currently drives for Ferrari but now alongside Carlos Sainz.
Leclerc’s Time At Sauber
Embed from Getty ImagesLeclerc surprisingly only was with the Sauber team for a season, his results for the team had impressed Ferrari so much they decided to swap him for 2007 World Champion Kimi Raikkonen.
Leclerc’s best results in a Sauber came from Azerbaijan where he managed to finish 6th place, throughout the season he finished 7th multiple times and for your first season in Formula 1 those results are pretty good and people definitely saw that this driver had some immense level of skill.
One track in particular that he showed his skill in was at Brazil during qualifying, he was attempting to get the car into Q3 however the rain had started to fall and it looked inevitable that he was going to be knocked out, however, he managed to pull out a stunning lap with the rain just beginning to fall and had really got people excited to see what he could do in a Ferrari next season.
How Has Leclerc’s Time At Ferrari Actually Gone?
Leclerc’s Ferrari fairytale began in the 2019 season, in his first race for them he finished a solid P5 and in the next race he secured a sour podium. Although he was ecstatic to get a podium in only his second race it was also heartbreak due to an Engine issue that had stolen the win away from him.
It was only a matter of time before Leclerc was going to win a race he just had to wait for the correct time.
He finally won his first race for the Ferrari team in Belgium however it was still heartbreaking for him, his close friend Anthoine Hubert had tragically passed away that weekend in an F2 race and the accident had shocked the world in motorsport, so when Leclerc won the race it was a weird feeling and instantly dedicated his win to Hubert.
Fortunately, he wouldn’t have to wait much longer and at the next race in Monza, he fended off the chasing Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas to secure his second win in Formula 1 in which he celebrated by pouring his heart out on the radio and letting out pure joy on the podium.
Leclerc would then end the 2019 season with 10 podiums to his name, 264 points and finishing 4th in the Drivers Championship which was pretty outstanding for his first season with Ferrari and his second season in Formula 1.
Unfortunately for Leclerc, Ferrari struggled with the 2020 season and wasn’t able to provide anywhere near what they had done in the 2019 season. Throughout the entire season, Ferrari were very rarely battling for the lead or anywhere near the lead which led Leclerc to only scoring 2 podiums for the entire year.
He ended P8 in the Drivers Championship scoring 98 points and Ferrari having a year to forget.
Ferrari’s Reboot!
Embed from Getty ImagesI think we can all agree that Ferrari have improved significantly from last season and now they have a car that is somewhat able to fight around the top of the field.
It was already clear so see at the beginning of the year that they had improved massively from the past season but it has become even more apparent since they were developing the car throughout the year and with the massive engine boost, recently Ferrari had implemented a new engine which has brought them super close or even ahead of the McLaren’s car performance and helped them in their pursuit of 3rd in the Constructors Championship.
Leclerc so far this year has only scored 1 podium however he has had very consistent results near the top so far this season so we can see a major improvement in the team and himself.
In addition with next year’s regulation changes, we could potentially see Ferrari rise to the top again and see if Leclerc could potentially fight for a title.
So…Could Leclerc Win The World Championship?
Yes! In the future, we could most definitely see Leclerc win the Drivers Championship and take Ferrari back to their winning ways.
Undoubtedly Leclerc does have the skill to win the Championship and its more of a question if Ferrari can provide Leclerc with a consistent car that has the ability to fight for wins or maybe Leclerc might look to another team in the future…
Who knows! We will have to see but fans should definitely not underestimate Leclerc’s talent.