Special feature
Formula 1
Promoted: Charles Leclerc analyses his breakthrough year
All F1 drivers dream of making that breakthrough moment. Charles Leclerc truly had his breakthrough as a Ferrari driver when he took his first win for the team in Spa, then immediately backed it up with a historic victory at Monza on Ferrari’s home soil.
Edited: Oct 26, 2019, 8:46 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
In his first season with Scuderia Ferrari, Charles Leclerc has proved himself every bit the exciting young superstar on the rise, with back-to-back wins in Spa and then in front of the Tifosi in Monza.
But a chance to celebrate from the top of the podium, an experience Charles himself calls ‘crazy’, does not come from nowhere.
“In the hard moments, it’s always very difficult, because you start to doubt yourself,” Leclerc tells Giselle Zarur Maccise in this new video shot in Mexico this week. “Every time you go back to winning, or to the good results, you take back the confidence in yourself and you feel a lot better.”
The young Monegasque driver played a careful game at the start of the season.
“At the beginning, I didn’t want to arrive at a big team like Ferrari and say: ‘OK, I want the car like this’. I just wanted to try and adapt to the car and then see if I wanted to make some changes,” Leclerc says, when asked if he felt a change to his driving style was partly responsible for his breakthrough results recently.
Part of being promoted to a team like Scuderia Ferrari is understanding the work that goes on behind the scenes to keep the car in peak condition. It’s why the team’s long-running partnership with Shell is something always in the back of the drivers’ minds over a race weekend.
“Before arriving at Ferrari, I had no idea how important it is for a Formula 1 team to be successful, to have a successful relationship with their fuel & lubricants partner,” he said.
But it’s something Scuderia Ferrari’s exciting young talent will be paying close attention to in the future: “A big part of the performance we’ve gained from last year to this year is thanks to Shell,” he said – performance he was no doubt appreciative of when it helped him to achieve race wins in his first season with one of Formula 1’s most iconic teams.
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Red Bull "thin" on spare parts after Albon crash
Next article Mexican GP: Verstappen on pole as Bottas crashes hard
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Charles Leclerc
F1 driver contracts: How long is each driver tied down for?
Formula 1
Formula 1 1 d
F1 driver contracts: How long is each driver tied down for?
Max Verstappen on Ferrari clashes: "I would never sign two number-one drivers"
Formula 1
Formula 1
Sao Paulo GP
2 d
Max Verstappen on Ferrari clashes: "I would never sign two number-one drivers"
More from
Ferrari
What the Brazilian GP revealed about F1's ability to cope with rain
Formula 1
Formula 1
Sao Paulo GP
3 d
What the Brazilian GP revealed about F1's ability to cope with rain
Latest news
The numbers that reveal how sprint races have turned the MotoGP title fight upside down
MotoGP
MGP MotoGP
Qatar GP
20 min
The numbers that reveal how sprint races have turned the MotoGP title fight upside down
2027 Formula E drivers and teams: The line-up so far
Formula E
FE Formula E 2 h
2027 Formula E drivers and teams: The line-up so far
Kimi Antonelli meets Italian president Sergio Mattarella
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1 2 h
Kimi Antonelli meets Italian president Sergio Mattarella
Feature
Discover prime content
Top 10 F1 cars of the 1970s
Formula 1
By Kevin Turner
Top 10 F1 cars of the 1970s
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe