“Mistakes can happen,” Ferrari race director does not want Charles Leclerc to readjust his driving style
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Charles Leclerc
Charles Leclerc is fast, that has always been the case. The Monegasque has an abundance of pace, and he had shown that even in 2019, when he took 7 pole positions, taking home the pole trophy. He has shown that once again this year, and currently has 7 pole positions, out of 13 races. But like in 2019, they have not always translated to race results.
Of course, all the fault for pole positions not converting to race victories does not lie with him only. Oftentimes, it has been Ferrari who have compromised his race. This was the case in Monaco, where a costly double-stack sent Leclerc from being 1st to finishing 4th. Spain and Azerbaijan – where his engine failed while he was in the lead, also come to mind.
But Leclerc has also made mistakes, most notably so in Imola and France this season, even though the first did not come when he was in pole position. In France, Leclerc took pole position, and was leading, until he lost control of the car at Beausset while unforced but pushing on track, made contact with the barriers and that was that. In Imola, he also spun while trying to chase down Sergio Perez. In such a situation, some have questioned Leclerc’s at-times error-prone driving.
Laurent Mekies: “We don’t want him [Leclerc] to change anything”
Ferrari, on most weekends this season, have seemed to have the better car. But that has not mattered, as they have stumbled in many other departments. And so, they are currently 97 points behind Ferrari, and Charles Leclerc is 80 points behind Max Verstappen. Leclerc had come out publicly after his mistake at the French Grand Prix to say that if he loses the championship by 32 points, he’ll know where they came from. But the gap is not 32 points.
In an interview posted on the official Formula 1 website, Ferrari’s assistant team principal and race director, Laurent Mekies discussed the two drivers, and the mood in the camp going into the second half of the season. He said: “The mood in the camp is as high as it gets, because people like Charles [Leclerc], Carlos [Sainz], Mattia [Binotto], these guys are driving the team in all situations. You have the good moments, you have the bad moments, and I think the difference comes from this sort of leadership.”
Mekies also threw some support Charles Leclerc’s way, complimenting the blistering pace displayed by the Monegasque: “Let’s start from the speed. He has been showing such outstanding speed this year again that you don’t want to go and touch that aspect. Charles doesn’t need us… as a great racing driver, to understand where he needs to go in terms of closeness to the limit.”
He added: “He is a master of that and, as we all do, mistakes can happen. I think we don’t look at single mistakes, we look at the strike rate. We look at how extraordinarily you’re able to do things compared to the stuff that you do not as good, and I think his strike rate this year has been very, very impressive and we don’t want him to change anything.”
The championship might just have slipped too far from Charles Leclerc’s hands now, but of course, never say never. While Leclerc has made mistakes, he cannot be blamed for all the deficit to Red Bull or Max Verstappen. With all the strategic errors and reliability problems, Ferrari have lost countless valuable points. One can hope that Leclerc will just step up his driving even more learning from his mistakes.
Also Read: “Charles Leclerc is frustrated,” Markus Ericcson believes Leclerc is fed up with Ferrari
Also Read: When Charles Leclerc dumped girlfriend Giada Gianni to challenge Lewis Hamilton for F1 title
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Aniket Tripathi
(1002 Articles Published)