Former Ferrari man explains the nagging feeling that will prevent Charles Leclerc from leaving the Italian team

Former Ferrari mechatronics engineer Francesco Cigarini feels one of the key reasons why Charles Leclerc might find it hard to leave the Italian team is because of the fear that the team might start winning as soon as he has left. The Italian team has been on a lean patch since it last won a championship in 2008.

Since then, the team has shown some signs of life at different stages, but none of them ultimately came to fruition. Fernando Alonso fought for the title twice in 2010 and 2012 but couldn't cross the final hurdle. Sebastian Vettel fought for the title in 2017 and 2018 but couldn't win. Charles Leclerc, on his part, started the 2022 F1 season as a title contender against Max Verstappen, but after a few races, Red Bull kicked on while Ferrari regressed.

If we take a look at Charles Leclerc's career, he has been a part of the Italian team since 2019 and has a long-term contract in the bag. Despite that, it is clear that the team's inability to perform and give him a strong car is what has limited his success.

As quoted by PlanetF1, former Ferrari man Francesco Cigarini felt that one of the main reasons why Charles Leclerc would think twice before leaving the team is because of the fear of him leaving and the team then suddenly starting to win. Talking about the driver's future and the possibility of him leaving, he said,

"It’s possible,but in my opinion, his thinking is, ‘What if I change teams and in a year or two Ferrari puts the car I need to win the World Championship on the track?’ Then you have to see what alternatives you have and how certain you are about those alternatives."

He added,

“I asked myself the same question when I decided to leave: ‘What if the next one is the right one and we start winning again? But at a certain point, I made my choice, so he could make the choice. I don’t see it as feasible for now, but I’ll tell you that in my opinion, the question he’s asking himself is: ‘What if I finally leave everything I want from the car and it comes the following year?'”

Ferrari saw a bit of Jules Bianchi in Charles Leclerc

Before Charles Leclerc came into the picture a few years later, the team was grooming Jules Bianchi for a future role with the team. After his unfortunate accident in the 2014 F1 Japanese GP, the Frenchman lost his life. Cigarini reveals that in Leclerc, the team members used to see a bit of Bianchi as well. He said,

“I won’t deny that we saw a lot of Jules in Charles: he is a huge talent, also an explosive talent that needed to be tamed over the years, because you have the talent but you have to work hard on the team, on letting them know what you want, on being able to work and make the tyres work."

Leclerc has been a part of Ferrari for close to a decade now, and in any other era he would have already fought for the title. The fact that he hasn't yet and is not going to this season is something that could push the driver towards the exit door.