Charles Leclerc thinks he is a ‘much more complete driver’ now


Charles Leclerc thinks he is a ‘much more complete driver’ now

Charles Leclerc

It’s safe to say that 2022 could have gone better for Ferrari and Charles Leclerc. While it was undoubtedly a step up from 2020 and 2021, in general, it was felt that the team failed to reach their potential this season. At the beginning of the season, they were generally level on performance with Red Bull, and after Max Verstappen’s retirement in Australia, looked to be the frontrunners. However, from Imola onwards, it all faded away.

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They threw away their chances before the summer break, and after it, they never really had a shot at all. They often had to run the engine lower due to fears of another failure, and the F1-75 also ate through its tyres. All of this added up meant that they were competitive with Red Bull on one-lap pace, but (almost always) nowhere during the races.

It was incredibly disappointing for the fans to see Ferrari collapse, but it would’ve been no different from the man in the center of it all – Leclerc, whose own title challenge ended up being rather short. Reflecting on his season in an interview with The Race back in October, the Monegasque said: “It all started very well. Then we’ve had some technical issues back-to-back, some wrong strategy calls in some races, and then the mistake in France.”

In a torrid spell between Imola and Hungary, while Ferrari won two races – they also suffered 6 retirements (in total, Leclerc + Sainz) apart from the various strategic errors. This made it hard for Leclerc to ‘get a grip’: “All of these added up. And all of this was race after race after race after race. So it was quite difficult to get a grip and then we came to the second half of the season where basically Red Bull did a step up in terms of performance and have been very strong since we came back from the break.”

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Also Read: ‘I’ve gotten to a good level with this car,’ Carlos Sainz on how Charles Leclerc showed him his ‘limits’ in 2022 and his hopes for next season

Charles Leclerc feels his ‘discipline’ has improved

Charles Leclerc
Charles Leclerc

In 2023, Charles Leclerc, Carlos Sainz and Ferrari will try again to bring a championship trophy back to Maranello. Their last Constructor’s championship win was in 2008, and their last WDC win was in 2007. This is just not good enough for a team like Ferrari, but there’s a chance to change that in 2023. Leclerc feels he has improved every year and will face 2023 as the best version of himself, yet. The Monegasque also thinks his ‘discipline’ has improved massively compared to his previous seasons.

“The discipline I’ve had this year was much better compared to my previous years, just in general,” he explained that the ‘discipline’ meant learning to relax between races, which he was never good at before. But 2022 was different, and fighting for wins ‘helped him’ as well: “I do believe that fighting for wins and fighting back for podiums also helped me personally. I just feel more complete and every year you just learn from the previous experiences. I think this has always been a strength of mine.”

Leclerc feels like a ‘much more complete driver’ now: “I’ve always been very honest with myself and tried to learn from my mistakes and try to strengthen my weaknesses. I think the first few years it was always very clear where I was. For next year, it’s all about working in the details and just trying to improve in every single area by a little. That will make a difference in the end. But I feel a much more complete driver than I was.”

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Ferrari will need to sort out their reliability issues out, along with solving the tyre degradation issues to stand a chance in 2023. Then, it will be up to new hire Frederic Vasseur to make sure that they do not commit the same race weekend errors that they did during 2022. Both Sainz and Leclerc are very capable drivers – but they still need Ferrari to give them a solid base.

Also Read: ‘Binotto was more of a fan of Carlos Sainz,’ Ralf Schumacher feels that the arrival of Frederic Vasseur spells good things for Charles Leclerc at Ferrari

Also Read: “So hopefully it will be a three team fight next year” Charles Leclerc believes Mercedes will be back in the title fight in 2023