Charles Leclerc reveals biggest improvement he made over F1 2021 season

Charles Leclerc has revealed his biggest improvement of the 2021 season. The driver claims he has refined his race management, which he felt was his weakness heading into last season.

The Ferrari driver claimed he struggled with race management in the 2019 and 2020 seasons and took an effort to ensure he didn't suffer a similar fate in 2021. As reported by formula1.com, Leclerc spoke about what he improved most last year, saying:

“Definitely the race management in general. Again, that’s since early 2020 I started to say it was one of my weaknesses; especially in 2019, I had a lot of good qualifying [sessions] but in the race, I was struggling a bit more. We were struggling a bit more as a team, but as a driver, I could feel I was struggling more than others. So, I put a lot of work into it in 2020, I got much better and I think in 2021 it [was] actually one of my strengths.”

The 24-year-old also acknowledged his need to find a better overall race balance, claiming he knows he lacks performance compared to his rivals. He said:

“Yes, there’s still a lot more to work on: maybe a balance from my qualifying to the race that I probably didn’t find yet. Sometimes I sacrifice a bit more my qualifying to be good in the race as we’ve seen a few times [in 2021]. But it’s a balance I’m working on, to try and get the perfect balance between quali and the race.”

Leclerc finished the season in seventh place, two places behind his teammate Carlos Sainz, who was in his debut season with the Maranello-based team.

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Carlos Sainz out-performed Charles Leclerc in his debut season with Ferrari

Despite being new to the team, Carlos Sainz consistently outperformed Charles Leclerc in the most recent edition of F1. Leclerc struggled for pace on multiple occasions despite often out-qualifying his team-mate. Although he claimed to have improved this season, the Monegasque driver had a lackluster year with the Italian team, managing to score only 159 points and one podium — at the British Grand Prix.

According to former F1 CEO Bernie Ecclestone, Sainz's consistency over Leclerc has turned some heads at the Maranello-based team's factory. Dr. Helmut Marko was also one of the Monegasque driver's strongest critics, claiming Sainz's performance "debunked" Leclerc. Regarding next year's competition, the advisor to the Red Bull team said:

“Mercedes and we have the potential, the people and the continuity. That again speaks for a duel at the highest level. Especially as with (Lewis) Hamilton and (Max) Verstappen, no other driver is coming along. The closest to them is (Lando) Norris. (Charles) Leclerc was, so to speak, debunked by (Carlos) Sainz.”

Leclerc will be looking to outperform Sainz in the 2022 season as the Spaniard is the former's direct point of comparison in the eyes of fans and critics alike.