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Charles Leclerc has saidthat the experience of driving Michael Schumacher's legendary F1 car was very special.
The Ferrari driver got the opportunity to drive the car which Michael Schumacher won the 2003 F1 title with. The Monagesque did quite a few laps around Abu Dhabi's Yas Marina circuit and tweeted about the same.
On the 'Beyond the Grid' podcast, Charles Leclerc talked about the special experience.
Pointing out the key differences between that car and the one he drives now, Leclerc said that the biggest difference is in the agility in the slow-speed corners in the 2003 Ferrari. He told Tom Clarkson:
"This was really incredible. First of all, I have to thank my friend Thomas Flow for this opportunity, as it was his car that he bought some months ago. And we went to Abu Dhabi, and it was like a karting day with Formula 1 cars. So he had his 2017 car and his 2003 car and we'll jump from one car to the other whenever we wanted. And we did that for the whole afternoon, which was incredible."
He said:
"The 2003 car is very, very special. On the other hand, it also shows me how much progress there was from 2003 to now in terms of downforce. The downforce that we have in today's car is absolutely incredible, and I think it's very difficult to understand how much progress there has been made from 2003 to now. Having said that, the weight of the 2003 car, it's just so fun to drive in the slow-speed corners."
Charles Leclerc reminisces time spent in winter with Alpine drivers
Charles Leclerc saw a basketball game with the two Alpine drivers Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly. Talking about the experience, Leclerc said:
"A fan is a big word. I really really like going there and watching the show and the fact that they had a game in Paris. I was there, too. So that was the perfect occasion to go again. I'm not following all the season, but whenever I'm in the US, I'm trying to go and see a game."
He added:
"We had great fun. Yeah, we went to see the game all of us three. We were sat next to each other, so we could speak Formula 1, mostly, because I think Esteban also had a similar knowledge of myself about NBA, which is not much."
Charles Leclerc will hope to have a better campaign this season after a rather disappointing one in 2022.
