Charles Leclerc proved at Las Vegas that it's the team and not the driver responsible for Ferrari's lack of success

Charles Leclerc was splendid at the F1 Las Vegas GP. He secured pole position for Ferrari on Saturday and was on his way to winning the race on Sunday before the safety car intervention turned the race on its head.

Despite of old tires on his car compared to the Red Bull duo, Charles Leclerc was still able to jump Sergio Perez at the end of the race and finish P2.

While he would have been a bit disappointed at the end of the race, the overall performance proved something that everyone already knew. Ferrari's lack of success is down to the team and not the driver.

Charles Leclerc has not had a great season

Looking back, Charles Leclerc has not had a great season. There have been a few races where he has been overshadowed by teammate Carlos Sainz. Then there have been races where he has made a few mistakes.

At the start of the season, it did appear that Ferrari was quite unpredictable. What that meant for Sainz was him not pushing the car to the extreme and having less confidence in it.

For Leclerc, however, he did not take his foot off the pedal. He would continue to push hard and as a result, there would be races like Baku where it would work for him and then there would be races like Miami where he would end up crashing in qualifying.

In the second half of the season after the summer break, Ferrari's upgrade did make the car more stable but it had to have an understeer setup. Leclerc struggled with it for a few races as teammate Sainz took over at Monza and Singapore.

You add all of that and the misfortune suffered this season by Leclerc, and you have him trailing Sainz in the standings. Because of this, there were many who had reduced their expectations from Leclerc. There were many pundits even who claimed that Sainz had taken over at Ferrari.

Leclerc was termed erratic, crash-prone, and someone who is incapable of competing with the likes of Max Verstappen and Lewis Hamilton.

Charles Leclerc proved at Las Vegas that he can run at the front

In the F1 Las Vegas GP, Charles Leclerc proved that if he has the right car, he can get the job done for Ferrari. It was not only the race in Las Vegas, however, where Leclerc proved it as there have been multiple occasions this season where he has pulled off blinders in qualifying only to drop back in the race because of Ferrari's lack of race speed.

The race in Baku was the first such occasion this season where all of a sudden Leclerc stuck the car on pole. He wasn't able to win because of a lack of race pace but that was also a sign of what he could in a competitive car.

Ferrari needs a better car, the drivers are capable enough

Looking at what Charles Leclerc is able to accomplish when the car is competitive is a clear sign of what he can achieve. Even last season, after just four races into the season, he had won two of them and was comfortably leading the standings. If it wasn't for Ferrari's complete breakdown of power unit reliability and some suicidal strategy calls by Ferrari, he would have won a lot more.

After a string of bad performances post-summer break where he was still getting used to the car, the race in Las Vegas should be enough for Ferrari and the Charles Leclerc detractors that the lack of success is on the team, not the driver.