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Charles Leclerc recently revealed that he believes eight-time world champions Mercedes will certainly be in contention for the 2023 F1 championship. The Silver Arrows absolutely dominated the turbo-hybrid era but struggled in 2022 with the advent of new technical regulations, causing the team to only finish third.
The Ferrari driver insists that he expects Mercedes to come into the new season with a "very strong car."
As reported by Motorsport, when asked about the teams he expects to be in the mix for the 2023 championship title, Charles Leclerc said:
“Mercedes will definitely be there next year with a very strong car. We’ve seen how much they’ve improved from the first race to the last race. I think they understood what they did wrong, and this is normally the sign that it will go better. So hopefully it will be a three-team fight next year.”
The Monegasque was also quite optimistic about Ferrari's chances of fighting for the 2023 F1 season. He emphasized that the team has worked in the "right direction" to learn from their mistakes in the recent past.
“I also think that after the 2021 season, where we've been working very well and reset it a little bit from 2020, that was a difficult season, we have been working in the right direction and in the right way. This gives me the confidence that we'll have a competitive car for 2023.”
Charles Leclerc describes the new Ferrari boss as "straightforward" and "honest"
Ferrari recently announced that Sauber's Fred Vasseur will be replacing Mattia Binotto as team principal. Charles Leclerc, of course, has an established relationship with Vasseur given his history as a Sauber driver in 2018. The 25-year-old admitted that the Italian has shown plenty of faith in the past and described him as a "very honest" man.
Speaking at the FIA prize-giving gala in Italy prior to the announcement, Charles Leclerc said:
“Ferrari is a very different team to any other team. I can only comment on my experience with Fred which obviously has been good. I have been working with Fred already from the junior categories where he has believed in me and we have always had a good relationship.
“He has always been very straightforward, very honest, and this is something that I like from Fred.”
Vasseur will be starting his work with Ferrari in January of 2023.
