Winning in Formula 1 is always a big “mess,” imagine if you want to do it with Scuderia Ferrari. Eighteen words fragmented by a comma that perfectly convey the idea. Yet, if we rummage through the history of the Maranello team, there are those who have pitched their tents in Maranello only to leave the Italian side at the team’s request. Charles Leclerc seems to have the same intention. He is not interested in anything else. At various points in his Formula 1 career, he has been linked to other teams. Maybe he even talked to them. Who knows, perhaps to indirectly wake up the Ferrari workgroup behind him, which has disappointed its drivers on more than one occasion and not just in the last six six years since Charles Leclerc joined the Italian side.
The fact is that the Monegasque does not make future plans. Or perhaps it would be better to say that he makes them but only with Scuderia Ferrari. Having arrived in Formula 1 with the red team, after one season with Alfa Romeo to gain experience and be able to showcase his huge potential, since the first free practice session for the 2019 Australian Grand Prix, sharing the garage with a certain four-time Formula 1 world champion, namely Sebastian Vettel, he made it clear that he would not hold the steering wheel of his all-red car just to perform well. Charles Leclerc’s goal has always been to do his best and to achieve the best possible result based on the circumstances he found himself in, even when the car did not allow him to fight for ambitious results.
Looking through Charles Leclerc’s career, we find that the victories are only six. A meager 4.55% calculated based on the Grands Prix he has raced in so far, namely 132 in total. Races in which he has collected 24 pole positions, practically half of the pole positions won by Scuderia Ferrari in the last 16 years. For the rest, we can say that he has been on the podium 35 times, achieved 2 “hat tricks,” in the 2022 Bahrain Grand Prix and Australian Grand Prix, and a “grand slam” again at the Albert Park circuit in Melbourne. There have also been 21 retirements, 6 with Sauber, 15 with the Italian cars, and a total of 1212 points scored. Additionally he has 740 laps led in a race covering a distance of 3758 kilometers in the lead and 7029 laps completed covering 35784 kilometers.
Are they just numbers? Yes, because measuring Charles Leclerc’s great talent just through data wouldn’t make too much sense. Just as it didn’t with Max Verstappen, who, only once he had a competitive car, demonstrated his enormous talent and consequently greatly expanded his positive statistics. The purpose of the comparison is certainly not to establish who between the two is the stronger driver. If it were so, for example, we could say that even Valtteri Bottas has almost twice as many wins as Charles Leclerc. An image that does not at all capture the real value of the two drivers.
Gradually, Ferrari is returning to the top. The path is still quite long and paved with pitfalls. There’s no doubt about that. Nevertheless, about 12 months ago, the correct technical path was taken. Italian aerodynamicist Enrico Cardile, the Technical Director of Chassis & Aerodynamics at Ferrari, has once again shown his skills, especially when, following the technical “departure” of David Sanchez, he received the tasks and the responsibility to focus on performance recovery. The quality of the work carried out by the Maranello team of engineers he leads is evident to everyone. A red team that knows and can currently compete at the top, despite some remaining issues.
We refer particularly to the management of the tires. A factor that has been largely resolved but, under certain conditions, still makes it very difficult to extract performance from the SF-24 single-seater. We clearly observed this during the Canadian Grand Prix weekend at the 4.361-kilometre Circuit Gilles-Villeneuve in Montreal, where variable weather conditions and low temperatures completely ruined Ferrari’s preparations and the SF-24 performance in the key moments of the qualifying and the race on the island of Notre Dame. A weekend so dark that it was rightly labeled by the protagonists themselves as an “isolated case.” A bleak chapter in an undoubtedly positive 2024 Formula 1 championship.
Charles Leclerc knows this. For this reason, starting from the next round, the Spanish Grand Prix, which is the tenth event of the 2024 racing campaign, the Monegasque driver can’t wait to show that Montreal fooled the entire Italian team. To do so, just like his Maranello teammate Carlos Sainz with whom he shares the garage, he should be able to benefit from further updates on the SF-24. The main novelty of the second aerodynamic package introduced by the Ferrari technicians this year is linked to the floor to which other important elements are added in order to optimize performance. In this regard, the 4.657-kilometre Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya will be crucial. A type of layout that facilitates the validation of updates.
Moreover, through Charles Leclerc’s recent statements to the Italian daily newspaper La Stampa, it is worth pointing out a key fact. To reiterate it actually, because the Monegasque has never said anything different from what was reported by the Italian newspaper based in Turin. The Ferrari driver mentioned the current championship battle for the constructors, emphasizing that he will also keep an eye on the drivers’ standings to fight until the very end. It could not be otherwise for a driver of his caliber who nurtures his passion towards a single goal. A desire cherished since childhood: to win a Formula 1 world championship with Ferrari.
Unlike the “usual” statements to which Charles Leclerc has accustomed us for some time, this time there is another even stronger one. The Monegasque did not hide his desire, adding that he is willing to wait as long as necessary to triumph aboard the Ferrari. Yet another declaration of passionate love for the Ferrari team that believed in him since he was a child. A sort of lifetime signature on the contract that binds him to the red team, because besides winning with the Prancing Horse, at least for him, there is simply nothing else in Formula 1.
Lastly, a further comment that undoubtedly reveals the Monegasque’s “exclusive” craving for success. Despite the fact that Charles Leclerc wants to claim the world title with the red team and, as mentioned, is willing to wait as long as it is necessary, he is working precisely to achieve it as soon as possible. For this reason, he does not yet consider the opportunity in the current championship to be over, even though it is a rather complicated scenario and realistically Max Verstappen will most likely secure his fourth Formula 1 championship. One thing is certain in all this: Ferrari must be able to provide him with the right car but, at the same time, all the essential support that a driver needs to fight at the top until the end.
This is why the always cheerful Fred Vasseur, who was given full powers to make key decisions by the Ferrari top management, namely president John Elkann, is bolstering the team with prestigious arrivals. There is no need to pinpoint specific names, as we already know them perfectly. Besides the human value, all the strategic areas of the Maranello team need to be strengthened. The entire work group, in short, must be able to make the lowest possible error rate, exploit every single opportunity over the race weekend and clearly provide Charles Leclerc with all the necessary ingredients to cook up a winning dish. Starting with this weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix at the Circuit de Catalunya in Barcelona.
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Source: FUnoanalisitecnica
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