"Everything is bigger"- Charles Leclerc on why he prefers fighting for F1 championship instead of mid-table battles

Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc revealed why he prefers to fight in the front row rather than the midfield. The Monegasque has had a tumultuous year with his team, but would much rather hustle for the top spot.

While giving an interview with RacingNews365, Leclerc described his first genuine championship tussle in F1, saying:

"Actually, I am much more at ease in a situation like this than I was last year when you are fighting for sixth or seventh. Whenever you are doing a great job, nobody really notices it. It is really frustrating. But this year, whenever we did a great job, people were also noticing when we did a bad job - so it is a bit more exponential."

Charles Leclerc also reflected on the pressure of fighting for a championship and how nothing goes unnoticed, saying:

"Everything [good or bad] is bigger in what you do [at the front compared to the midfield], but that is fine. I prefer the sun being just in the shadow and working in it without anybody really noticing. It is a good situation to be in, but yes, it does come with more outside pressure [and expectation]."

The Scuderia have faced an insurmountable amount of criticism post their massive strategic errors this year. A theme followed, where Leclerc's hard-earned Saturday P1s slipped on Sundays to even push him out of the podium places multiple times.

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Max Verstappen's manager claims Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz were driving at the limit

Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz have also been held responsible for a minor loss of points this season. Leclerc has specifically faced calculative comparisons to Max Verstappen ever since his mistakes at Imola, France, and Suzuka.

Verstappen's manager Raymond Vermeulen, however, believes that the F1-75 was not the easiest car to handle. Speaking on the F1 Nation podcast, he said:

"A lot of the mistakes that happened to both Ferrari drivers was because they seem to have quite a loose rear, that's a little bit unpredictable. And then obviously, if you're already a little bit on the backfoot, you push that just extra couple of percent more, and you're driving closer at the limit, then it's obviously easy to make a mistake."

Charles Leclerc has undoubtedly also struggled a lot with his tires this year. While it was specifically evident in Suzuka, Imola and Miami also saw comparatively high degradation in the F1-75. Though Ferrari dominated qualifying for most of the season, tire management was a big reason why they lost out to Red Bull in the races.