The image of Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari F1-75 #16 stuck in the barriers outside the escape route of the ‘Beausset’ corner in the 2022 French Grand Prix unwillingly reminded the Ferrari fans of another unfortunate moment: that of Sebastian Vettel’s SF71H #5 car against the protection barriers of the Sachs corner at the Hockenheim circuit in the 2018 German Grand Prix, a key mistake made by the four-time Formula 1 world champion on a Sunday that saw him start from pole position, while Lewis Hamilton was forced to make a comeback from the end of the grid.
The arrival of raindrops helped the then four-time world champion at the wheel of the Mercedes and instead betrayed Sebastian Vettel, which led to one of the many episodes perhaps decisive in shifting the momentum in the 2018 F1 championship, after a solid start from Ferrari and the German driver. In the second half of the season, things went smoothly for Lewis Hamilton with the exception of the magical victory secured by Sebastian Vettel at Spa in Belgium.
This time it was not the rain that betrayed Charles Leclerc last Sunday at Paul Ricard. The Monegasque driver made a mistake, a very difficult one to accept at this crucial stage of the 2022 Formula 1 championship battle against Red Bull and Max Verstappen, given that Charles could have left France with a gap of just 30 points behind the Dutchman in case he had also taken the fastest lap of the race. Instead, he is now 63 points behind the Red Bull driver, who therefore has a comfortable lead in the standings ahead of the Hungarian Grand Prix.
Former Scuderia Ferrari driver Jean Alesi, however, disagrees in comparing Charles Leclerc’s run-off to that of Sebastian Vettel from four years ago: “I disagree with anyone comparing Charles’s mistake to that of Sebastian Vettel at Hockenheim in 2018. Two different errors in different conditions, remembering that Seb had four world titles behind him and a long career at the top, unlike Charles Leclerc. Which, even compared to today’s Verstappen, must be evaluated differently. Maybe remembering how much criticisms was made to Max up to last year”, writes Jean Alesi in his usual Tuesday editorial for Italian daily newspaper Corriere della Sera.
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The former Ferrari driver underlines the great reaction of Mattia Binotto and the entire garage of the Maranello team in supporting the Monegasque driver after the unfortunate incident: “I saw a wonderful attitude on the part of Binotto and the entire Ferrari staff towards a driver, Charles Leclerc, who was mortified, with low morale. They were all around him, affectionately, without showing any signs of nervousness. Well, after so many suspicions about the quality of internal Ferrari relations, I think the team will do everything to support Charles’ recovery, even if it is very difficult. The car is can become unbeatable not only in the short term, but also in the next few years” – Jean Alesi explained for Corriere della Sera.
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