"The goal remains to be World Champion"- Charles Leclerc not feeling any 'pressure' due to Ferrari's long winless drought in F1 championship

Charles Leclerc claims Ferrari's lack of title wins since 2007 is not a factor in the team feeling pressure in the 2022 title battle. The team last won a drivers' title in 2007 and a constructors' title in 2008 with Kimi Raikkonen and Felipe Massa driving to a collective victory.

The Italian team has built 2022's fastest cars, but a string of reliability issues and poor strategic choices have put them on the back foot for the rest of the season.

Leclerc is now 80 points behind championship rival Max Verstappen in the drivers' standings. The Scuderia team is nearly a hundred points behind Red Bull in the constructors' standings. Their dismal showings have led to widespread criticism of Ferrari's strategy and operations in 2022.

When asked if Ferrari's championship drougcarsfactors into his overall levels of pressure in 2022, Charles Leclerc told the media:

"I mean, I don't think about this. Even though Ferrari remains Ferrari of 2000, the team is very different, and we are [in] a different place now.The last few years have been very difficult for us.

"We did an incredible step from last year to this year to be fighting for wins and obviously, the goal remains to be World Champion. It still remains the same goal for me, even though that now is going to be more difficult."

Leclerc concluded:

"But it doesn't add pressure that it has been so many years, and we haven't won."

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Charles Leclerc is pushing too hard for F1 title in 2022, feels former teammate

Marcus Ericsson feels Charles Leclerc is pushing too hard this season as Ferrari end up making far too many mistakes. Ericsson was the Monegasque's first teammate in F1 when the pair raced for Sauber in 2018.

Speaking about Leclerc's 2022 F1 season so far, Ericcson claimed that he felt the Ferrari driver was feeling the pressure and hence pushing too hard. He even attributed Leclerc's crash in France to the same reason, as compared to Max Verstappen.

Speaking to SkyF1, Ericcson said:

“Then he’s pushing, maybe a bit too hard. So it’s not ideal. It’s gonna be tough for Charles because I think he’ll feel he has had the opportunity to really fight for a championship this year. And he hasn’t been able because of quite a few things out of his control.”

Ferrari are unable to capitalize on their blazingly fast 2022 challenger. With Red Bull now considerably in the lead in both championships, the Prancing Horses have a tough battle to fight if they want to clinch the 2022 world titles.