Scuderia Ferrari Monegasque driver Charles Leclerc has revealed which one of the classic Ferrari Formula 1 cars he got the opportunity to test recently was his favourite after he got behind of the wheel in the cars of Ferrari legends Gilles Villeneuve and Niki Lauda.
As a driver for the Maranello team, one of the perks of the job is getting access to one of the most storied garages in motorsport history and Charles Leclerc has been enjoying that privilege in the last few weeks. First, Charles drove Gilles Villeneuve’s Ferrari 312 T4 at the Fiorano ciruit in an event that marked the 40th anniversary of the legendary F1 driver’s death, and later climbed into Niki Lauda’s 1974 car for a demo run during the Monaco Historic Grand Prix on the streets of Monte Carlo, which next weekend will host the Monaco GP. While the first run was smoothless, things did not go as well in Monaco, as he crashed the Ferrari 312 B3 into the wall due to a brake failure
In a recent interview, the Ferrari driver was asked to pick his favourite of the two classic Ferrari cars and replied:
“Well, Niki’s one was amazing, until the failure when it was a bit less amazing. But to be honest, the one of Gilles that I drove, I had the museum tyres so I couldn’t push at all – they were very, very old tyres. It was difficult to go over 100kph, so I had a lot more fun in Niki’s car.” – the Monegasque driver explained.
Charles Leclerc was also asked to comment on his Maranello team-mate Carlos Sainz’s view, as the Spanish driver expressed his concerns about driving a classic F1 car due to the risk of an injury that may affect his Formula 1 championship, but the Monégasque driver did share his teammate’s view despite challenging for the 2022 Formula One title given the pace and performance of the F1-75 car.
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“To be honest, before that, I think all the checks that had to be done were done. Obviously there was a shakedown of this car the Thursday before. The failure that happened was on a screw of the brake pads. And it’s impossible to know. Then, of course, fighting for a championship like this, I’ll think twice before doing it again in the future. But yeah, it’s also part of our job. And sometimes we need to go into those cars. And it’s always also an honour for me – I’m very happy and very proud to be driving those cars. And always a pleasure too. But it’s always a balance you need to find, and of course when you are fighting for the championship. But just overall, to be honest, because it’s for safety in general. I had a lot of fun, and this was unfortunate. But again, it was just unlucky.” – Charles Leclerc concluded.
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