Charles Leclerc has won two of the most iconic races on the calendar in Monaco and Monza, but for Jock Clear, “they mean nothing” when the visor comes down.
The hunger of a champion
After a 2023 that fell short of expectations and ended with zero victories, Charles Leclerc has truly stepped up this season, securing a double victory in two of the most iconic Grands Prix on the calendar.
After six years without a win, the Monegasque finally triumphed on home soil in the streets of the principality, and followed it up with another historic achievement at Monza last month in front of the Tifosi, holding off a hard-charging Oscar Piastri, who was much faster in his McLaren.
But as with all great champions, the desire to win is never satisfied. Jock Clear, Ferrari’s senior performance engineer who has worked closely with Charles Leclerc as his driver coach for years, knows this well.
“If you spoke to him, he would tell you he’s very happy to have won those two races,” the British engineer explained, as a guest on Tom Clarkson’s F1 Nation podcast – “They’re two iconic races in any year, but, honestly, this means nothing to him when he goes into qualifying in Austin next week. He’ll want to win that too. That’s the beauty of sport at all levels. Once you step onto the field, the important thing is to beat the person next to you that day. This adrenaline is there every week for us.” – the British engineer pointed out.
With six races still to go and Ferrari seemingly capable of fighting for top positions, will Charles Leclerc manage to increase his number of victories by the end of the season?
“Absolutely,” Jock Clear responded. “We’re in a situation where four cars, maybe more, can go to every race thinking ‘we could win this,’ and that’s a fantastic feeling. It really is. We much prefer this kind of challenge to the constant battle of trying to keep up with Max or hoping to catch him, which would be quite demoralizing. But at the moment, it’s really exciting. It’s a fantastic sport right now.”
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