53-year-old rival boss comes out in support of Charles Leclerc's woeful pole-to-race win conversion ratio

In a rare moment of getting appreciation from a rival boss, Charles Leclerc has found support from McLaren's Zak Brown. The American has come out and defended the Ferrari driver's woeful pole-to-win conversion ratio and said that it is not a reflection on the driver whatsoever.

Charles Leclerc has been a part of the sport since 2018, and he was promoted to Ferrari in 2019. At the Italian team, the driver has been the lead driver since 2020, but the car has not been a frontrunner for a while.

The car has, however, had a characteristic where Charles Leclerc has been able to pull out some brilliant lap times out of the car in qualifying and secure pole position for races. While the driver has shown an ability to mask the car's deficiencies in qualifying, the same is not possible in races.

As a result, Charles Leclerc currently has a poor pole position to win conversion rate, where he has won just 5 times out of 27 pole position starts. On paper, it doesn't look good, but it is more of a reflection of the car than the driver. Talking to the racer.com about Lando Norris' improved pole-to-win conversion ratio, Zak Brown also made it a point to talk about the Ferrari driver and said that his record was in no way a reflection on him. He said,

“Because there's another stat out there from [Charles Leclerc], who I'm a big fan of, who's not won that many races from pole, and I don't think that's anything on him. I think that's [a reflection of] how awesome he is over a lap and maybe can carry a car over a lap that doesn't have the ultimate race pace."

He added,

“So that's not intended to be disparaging on him at all. I think he's a huge talent. But my point is kind of a good narrative, and then when that narrative goes away, no one kind of, it's almost like the retraction's always on the back page. And I think Lando's in a great place.”

Charles Leclerc's depressed prediction about Ferrari in the second half of the season

Charles Leclerc has had an impressive 2025 F1 season, where he's put together impressive race time and again. The Ferrari driver put together a stunning run to secure a pole and almost fought for the win in Hungary before encountering car issues. The driver was, however, not too optimistic about what is in store in the future. Talking about the second half of the season and the prospect of picking up a win, the driver said,

"I'm not sure. I don't think there's one track at the moment where we think we are stronger than McLaren"

The driver would be hoping for a better run in the second half, but with the car seemingly not in the right window, it's going to be a hard graft for sure.