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Charles Leclerc's dedication to F1 was highlighted early in his career when the Ferrari driver left his long-time girlfriend Giada Gianni in the 2019 F1 season. Leclerc was in just his second year in F1 and first at Ferrari. The young driver gave a good account of himself, going head-to-head with teammate Sebastian Vettel.
It was at this time Leclerc thought having a girlfriend could prove to be a distraction. He wanted to devote himself to his team, so he ended up splitting with Gianni. The two had been dating since they were very young, but when the Ferrari driver thought to devote himself to the team, he split with his girlfriend.
In an Instagram live in 2019, Gianni announced that the two were not together anymore. She said:
"Charles left me. He wants to devote himself only to Ferrari."
That was almost three years ago, and since then Leclerc has seen a lot of ups and downs at Ferrari. This season, the driver is fighting for the championship against Max Verstappen. The Italian team have nailed the new regulations and produced a competitive car that's versatile and works well on every track.
Charles Leclerc finds himself 80 points behind Verstappen in the championship with just nine races left. Most of that deficit can been attributed to mistakes from both team and the driver. Repeated mistakes by Leclerc and Ferrari have let Red Bull off the hook to build a significant lead.
With F1 resuming at the Belgian GP this weekend, Leclerc would hope to claw back his deficit against the defending champion.
Charles Leclerc is pushing too hard, says former teammate
According to Charles Leclerc's ex-teammate Marcus Ericcson, the Ferrari driver has been pushing too hard. That's the reason for the errors he has made on the track. Ericcson said:
“I think he’s very frustrated. I think that he’s been fast this year, but it’s just been a lot of issues. What happened in Paul Ricard, one of the reasons why it happened, I think it’s because Charles is a bit frustrated – he wants to win races. He wants to get back in the championship hunt, and it just is not being the case.”
He added:
“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.”
Charles Leclerc will hope for a swift turnaround change in fortunes, as Verstappen is currently cruising to back-to-back titles.
