A few weeks ago, Scuderia Ferrari Monegasque driver Charles Leclerc was interviewed by RacingNews365 and opened up about his 2022 Formula 1 campaign and where the title duel against Max Verstappen fell apart.
The F1-75 caught everyone’s attention ever since the pre-season testing sessions, thanks to its unique design and what seemed to be a very strong pace on track. And indeed Scuderia Ferrari secured two race wins in the first three rounds of the season and also finished second in the other one. This meant that after three rounds, the Maranello team was in a strong position at the top of both world championship rankings.
Thanks to his win at the Albert Park Circuit in Melbourne, Charles Leclerc had 34 point lead over George Russell ahead of the Imola Grand Prix, while Red Bull’s Max Verstappen was 12 further back due to some reliability issues suffered by his RB18 car in the start of the season.
Unfortunately this was as good as it got for the Monegasque driver and the Italian side this year: what followed was a series of strategic mistakes, technical failures and a few errors made by Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz, which helped Max Verstappen and Red Bull build a solid gap in front.
During the Singapore Grand Prix weekend, as the title was all but gone for Charles Leclerc following five straight victories for the Dutchman, the Ferrari driver went through the ups and downs of the season in a discussion with RacingNews365, sharing his thoughts on the promising but fruitless championship.
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There was nothing Charles could do regarding the Maranello team’s strategic calls and the power unit reliability issues, such as the retirements while leading the race at the Circuit de Barcelona and in Azerbaijan, but what was in his control were spins in the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix and at the Paul Ricard track.
Aware that Red Bull was unbeatable at Imola, Charles Leclerc pitted from P3 with the goal of taking that bonus point for the driver that sets the fastest lap of the race. Yet Charles spun at Variante Alta and had to settle for a sixth place finish.
What was even more costly was his incident at Beausset in France: the Ferrari driver lost control of his F1-75 car while leading the French Grand Prix, as Max Verstappen took advantage to add another easy win to his total. His haunting scream of “NO” over the radio could arguably sum the Maranello team’s championship in just one word.
Some argued that Charles Leclerc’s errors were caused by the fact that he was forced to over-compensate and push hard to recover due to the car/team deficiencies, but the Monegasque disagrees:
“I don’t think when I did the mistakes, I had to compensate for anything. It was just obviously motivation to do in [Ferrari’s home race at] Imola, and then in France, yes, I did the mistake. But I think that could have happened anywhere in the season. For me, it’s not this. I try to push the limits all the time, and then there was this big mistake in France and smaller one in Imola. I cannot change it. I feel like it is being talked [about] much more than it should be. Obviously, looking at the points gap, it is huge and there has been consecutive points losses and at one point, everything we were doing was under the spotlights. As a team, we just need to be better executing Sundays – and this is what we should work [towards.]” – he explained.
At the same time, it worth pointing out that no driver is perfect and they will always make mistakes, even more so in their first season of challenging for ambitious targets such as fighting for victories and being in contention for the title. Max Verstappen also made several mistakes up until last season, which resulted in crashes by himself or after incidents with other drivers.
Charles Leclerc is of course no different and is aware that such moments should be seen as an opportunity to improve:
“Honestly, I’m very happy with this season,” he says when asked if he’d do anything different this term. Of course we’re always going to talk about my mistakes in Imola and in France, but in over 23 races – we have too many now – there’s always going to be a mistake at one point or another, and especially [when you are] pushing for the limit. So yes, I was probably too greedy in France when there was no need to be greedy at that moment of the race (when he still needed to make his pitstop and was 20 seconds ahead of Verstappen.) Maybe also in Imola when the best I could [have done] was just staying in my position and I thought about doing better. From a driver’s point of view, it has given me many more things [to learn on and work from] that probably you don’t see from the outside. As a driver, you always try to work on the small details – not weaknesses – but every time you a race, you learn from it. You try to bring it forward and be a better driver. There’s not much I would have changed personally at the beginning of the season.” – he added.
While Charles Leclerc also had the chance to fight for some race wins back in 2019, during his first year with the Maranello team, the Monegasque’s first taste of being in a title challenge took place this season, following two very difficult campaigns for Scuderia Ferrari, who had to settle for midfield finishes in 2020 and 2021, without any race win.
Charles Leclerc pointed out that he is far more comfortable fighting top drivers such as Lewis Hamilton or Max Verstappen for the top spots instead of challenging the midfield pack.
“Actually, I am much more at ease in a situation like this than I was last year when you are fighting for sixth or seventh,” the five-time Grand Prix winner (at the time of writing) argues. Whenever you are doing a great job, nobody really notices it. It is really frustrating. But this year, whenever we did a great job, people were also noticing when we did a bad job – so it is a bit more exponential. Everything [good or bad] is bigger in what you do [at the front compared to the midfield], but that is fine. I prefer the sun being just in the shadow and working in it without anybody really noticing. It is a good situation to be in, but yes, it does come with more outside pressure [and expectation.]” – the Monegasque driver continued.
Scuderia Ferrari’s wait for a Formula 1 championship will go to 15 years at least as the Maranello team is now focusing on the next campaign. Expectations will be high for Ferrari and Charles Leclerc in 2023, with the duo expected to come back strong and this time provide a solid challenge for Red Bull, hoping to avoid getting to the 16-year period without any Formula 1 Constructors’ title, which took place between in 1983 and 1999 – the longest dry spell in Maranello’s Formula 1 history.
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