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Alfa Romeo sporting director Beat Zehnder believes Charles Leclerc is the most complete F1 driver he has worked with. Zehnder was a guest on one of the latest editions of the Beyond the Grid podcast where he touched upon the Ferrari driver's rookie year with the team.
He talked about how Charles Leclerc probably took a bit longer than expected but once he did he never looked back. According to Zehnder, the Ferrari driver was the most complete driver he has worked with. He said:
“Very talented, he needed a little bit longer than expected. I think the first point he scored [was] in Baku, if I’m not mistaken. Until that race he struggled because the driving style needed for a Formula 1 car was a little different than the F2 [car].”
He added:
“All of us, we expected for him to adapt a little bit quicker as I think he expected it from himself as well. But in the end, bottom line, [he is] probably the most complete driver I’ve worked with in terms of natural talent, in terms of intelligence, race intelligence, and then just like he’s so focused, and he’s going to be a World Champion.”
It was the first time in Charles Leclerc's career that he had a car capable of fighting for the title. Eighty points behind Max Verstappen with just nine races left in the season mean that the title is a long shot now.
Charles Leclerc's former teammate, Marcus Ericcson, felt that the driver was probably pushing too hard this season and hence making mistakes. Speaking to SkyF1, he 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 and Carlos Sainz do not trust Ferrari's decisions!
Another issue that Ericcson pointed out was that Ferrari drivers Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz do not trust Ferrari's strategies. In Ericcson's view, this was one of the biggest issues that plagued the Italian squad as he said:
“I think the problem, from a driver perspective, and I think we’ve seen it quite a few times this year is that both Carlos and Charles are doubting the decisions that the pit wall is doing during a race. Obviously, that trust that you need to have as a driver with your team, it seems to be lacking a bit between Ferrari and their drivers and, over a season, that’s not good.”
Charles Leclerc will be hoping to string together some strong results after what has been a horrendous run of form in the last few races.
