Yahoo Autos Charles Leclerc Just Needs Ferrari to Do Its Part
Charles Leclerc and Ferrari opened 2022 with a statement win. In the months that followed, Leclerc put together impressive results even as the team floundered tactically and handed away wins in the pit lane. By the time Max Verstappen had passed him in the championship hunt, the Ferrari development team had failed to keep up and the car was no longer competitive enough to fight for wins even with a perfect pit strategy. Leclerc did his part, but he came away a disappointing 146 points behind Verstappen.
This is the sixteenth installment of our driver-by-driver preview of the 2023 Formula 1 season. This weekend, we will be covering Ferrari. You can find the rest of our previews here.
It was a defeat snatched from the jaws of victory, a crushing outcome for a driver whose standards had briefly been set so high. Ferrari set him up to succeed early, failed with a winning car, and then failed to keep up the standard of performance necessary to fight as the season went on. This year, that needs to change.
HOW HE GOT HERE
Leclerc was an exceptional prospect. He debuted in cars in 2014, had a strong run in the now-defunct Formula 3 Europe in 2015, and did enough to earn a promotion to the GP3 series now known as Formula 3 for the 2016 season. He won that title as a rookie, then won the Formula 2 title as a rookie a year later. In the modern F1 ladder, it is as good a resume as a driver can put together.
That got him to Alfa Romeo as a Ferrari-affiliated academy driver. Ten points-paying finishes got him Kimi Raikkonen's seat at Ferrari in a 1-to-1 swap the next year. Then, a breakout. Seven poles, ten podiums, and two wins highlighted a 2019 season where Leclerc took the #1 driver title at Ferrari from four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel by force. Unfortunately for Leclerc, Ferrari could not keep up with him.
Leclerc went winless in 2020 and 2021, but Ferrari brought a strong car to the season opener in 2022. Leclerc went on to prove what he could do once again.
