“I stole some secrets from Fernando Alonso” – Charles Leclerc. In 2018, Charles and Fernando often challenged each other for positions.

He is not yet a world champion, but he is studying to become one. Scuderia Ferrari Monegasque driver Charles Leclerc has already entered the list of race winners, and therefore the next step is the world championship: for now the car is not yet up to the task, but luckily for Charles he can grow further on the track and learn from drivers who have already reached that goal. There is obviously Lewis Hamilton to study, with his usually impeccable race conduct; Charles saw Sebastian Vettel up close as a teammate and can observe (and has observed) the presence on the track of former Ferrari drivers Fernando Alonso and Kimi Raikkonen.

In particular, the Spaniard, a Ferrari driver in the era that preceded the arrival of Sebastian Vettel, was indirectly a good distant teacher for the Monegasque. In the 2018 Formula 1 season, which was the year of Charles Leclerc’s debut with the Alfa Romeo Sauber team, the two often challenged each other for positions around the top 10, close to the top 5 on some occasions. At the end of the championship, the then McLaren-Renault driver finished eleventh with 50 points, while Charles finished thirteenth, just 11 points behind the Spaniard.

“For us youngsters it is a privilege to have four world champions on track. I am particularly grateful to Alonso: in 2018, we were fighting for the same positions. I watched how he drove and how he reacted to my maneuvers. And I was learning. So I stole some secrets from him.” – Charles Leclerc told the newspaper La Stampa. The challenge did not arise again in the following two years, with the Asturian engaged in other categories.

The situation with Sebastian Vettel, whom Charles Leclerc faced as a teammate, was different: in 2019 the challenge was heated, with the Monegasque able to anticipate the German in the final classification by a few points; while in 2020 there was no comparison in the performances of the two drivers, except for sporadic champion flashes by Sebastian Vettel: “I wish him the opportunity to get back to the top, because he has done great things in his career.” – said Charles Leclerc of the four-time world champion who is currently at Aston Martin.