Scuderia Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto has drawn comparisons between Monegasque driver Charles Leclerc and Gilles Villeneuve, one of the team’s most loved drivers who raced for the Maranello team.
Despite the fact that Gilles Villeneuve has only scored six race wins during his Formula 1 career for the Italian side before he was killed, aged just 32 (in a crash that took place in the qualifying session for the 1982 Belgian Grand Prix), the Canadian remains one of most appreciated drivers by the Maranello team’s fans.
Amongst those six F1 victories were some of the sport’s most memorable drives, as the legendary driver had well-known reputation for being one of the fastest in the history of motor racing, as former teammate Jody Scheckter once described him.
As a result, Gilles Villeneuve was also incredibly popular amongst the Tifosi, Ferrari’s most loyal fans, with a bronze bust of Villeneuve awaiting those who enter the team’s Fiorano test track in Maranello.
However, the buzz around the Italian side’s newest hero, Charles Leclerc, has left Mattia Binotto making comparisons between the two drivers.
Charles Leclerc was roared on from the grandstands during this season’s Grand Prix at Imola, but unfortunately he was not able to celebrate a win in front of the tifosi or even a podium finish due to a late error. But Charles will once again be the man tasked with carrying the weight of the Tifosi when Formula 1 returns to Italy after the summer break for the Italian Grand Prix at the Monza circuit:
“There are only a few drivers who are capable of doing that. I think Charles is one of those, as was Gilles,” Mattia Binotto said – “If I look at Charles, the way he’s driving, his talent, and more than that, his passion and the passion of the fans for him: it’s something that I call ‘essere Ferrari (to be Ferrari)’. – he added.
“Gilles was fantastic in that he only won six races but remains for all our team, the Tifosi, our driver. It really was his way of driving, his way of behaving and his passion. I think Charles has got that. That’s something which impassions ourselves (the team). We just hope that he will win more than six races.” – Scuderia Ferrari boss Mattia Binotto concluded.
Leave a Reply