“The team is different from the Ferrari of the 2000s”: Charles Leclerc says he feels no pressure despite the Italian giant’s Championship drought
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Charles Leclerc
Even though Ferrari holds the most revered spot in Formula 1 as the oldest and the most successful team in the history of the sport, the last 15 years have not brought a single Championship victory to the Scuderia. Even though the team has always been in the top 3 in the grid, there have been tactical errors, reliability issues and race pace problems with their cars that kept the Maranello outfit from winning a World Championship title ever since Kimi Raikkonen made them proud in 2007 by bagging the title victory on behalf of the team. And in 2008, Ferrari had won their last World Constructors’ Championship.
All these staggering statistics have pointed out that the team has not been performing at the peak level that used to display during the time when they were the undisputed Champions on the grid. In the last few years, Ferrari’s troubles seemed to reach new heights as they found it increasingly difficult to keep up with the pace of Mercedes and Red Bull. But then, in 2022, the team finally came out with the F1-75.
Ever since the season started, the F1 pundits said the F1-75 is a car worthy of winning a Championship. And after the Bahrain season-opener, they were sure Charles Leclerc with his Ferrari would finally bring an end to his team’s losing streak. But the Monegasque said it does not feel any added pressure became of the Maranello outfit’s series of failures to win the Championship.
No added pressure on Charles Leclerc as Ferrari targets Championship win after 15 years
With only nine races remaining in the roster, the picture for this year’s F1 Championship is becoming clearer with each day. While Red Bull is leading the pack for the Constructors’ title ahead of Ferrari by almost 100 points, the gap between Max Verstappen and Charles Leclerc is of 80 points and there is chance that the Monegasque can catch up and prevent Verstappen from defending his title.
So, it goes without saying that Ferrari have pinned all their hopes on Charles Leclerc for bringing a Champion’s title back home to Maranello. But the Monegasque is not feeling any pressure from all these expectations of him, as he said, “I don’t think about this. I just think even though Ferrari remains Ferrari of the 2000s, the team is very different. We are in a different place.”
Leclerc extensively talked about the incredible improvement that the team haveadein this year by developing an almost-perfect car for the season. He is also sure that even if they domiss out on a title this season, their recordings and notes will push them an extra step towards achieving a World Championship in 2023.
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Riddhi Mondal
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