"He’s a friend and he always texts me" - Charles Leclerc talks about how Sebastian Vettel tried to make him 'feel better' after his 2022 F1 French GP crash

Charles Leclerc confirmed that former teammate Sebastian Vettel had reached out to him after the Ferrari driver's unfortunate spin and crash at the 2022 F1 French GP.

The 24-year-old driver took pole and led the opening stint of the race before an unforced driver error brought his GP to a premature halt on lap 18. It wasn't the first time that Leclerc had failed to finish a race after leading it in 2022 and dented his world title hopes in the process.

Sebastian Vettel is no stranger to such inopportune instances in a Ferrari himself and the four-time world champion reached out to Leclerc after his incident at Le Castellet (Circuit Paul Ricard). Speaking in an interview ahead of the 2022 F1 Hungarian GP, Charles Leclerc said:

“Our relationship evolved throughout the years. I arrived the first year and I was obviously super-impressed and I think I was probably very weird to him because I was shy and didn’t know what to say when I was with him.’’

The Monegasque claimed that the pair are now friends after their frosty two-year stint together at Ferrari. He added:

“But now he’s a friend and he always texts me, like he did after Sunday, and always tried to make me feel better whenever I’m going through a tough time. So it’s nice to see how much we’ve grown since I first met him.”

---

Charles Leclerc knows he needs to improve in the second half of 2022 to stand chance of winning the world championship

Charles Leclerc is aware that he needs to get his affairs in order for the second half of the 2022 season if he is to have any hope of winning the World Drivers' Championship this year.

The 24-year-old's frustration knew no bounds after he spun out in France and missed out on a potential haul of 25 points in his battle against Max Verstappen.

Reflecting on his costly error in front of the media after the race, Charles Leclerc said:

“I feel like I’m performing at probably the highest level of my career since the beginning of the season but there’s no point performing at this high level if I then go on to make mistakes. 32 points, 25 today as it was likely we were going to win this race.”

The Ferrari driver went on to say:

“If at the end of the year we count back and it’s 32 points missing, then I know it’s coming from me and that I did not deserve to win the championship. For the second half of the season, I need to get on top of this if I want to be world champion.”

Heading into the 2022 F1 Hungarian GP weekend, Charles Leclerc is in P2 in the Driver Standings, 63 points behind Max Verstappen.