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Formula 1 world championship leader Charles Leclerc believes he has improved as a driver since last season but does not like being labelled ‘Charles 2.0’.
The Ferrari driver won the opening race in Bahrain and was narrowly defeated by Max Verstappen in Saudi Arabia. He also set the pace in today’s Friday practice at the Australian Grand Prix.
Leclerc leads the F1 points for the first time in his career as a result and has been hailed by Ferrari as driving like someone capable of fighting for the title.
That has prompted focus on Leclerc’s development as a driver in his relatively short F1 career, and Ferrari ambassador and Sky TV pundit Marc Gene even suggested this is ‘Leclerc 2.0’.
But Leclerc is not a fan of that. Asked by The Race if he feels he was performing at the same level last year or had taken another step this season, Leclerc started his answer saying: “One thing that I don’t like – I’ve seen it everywhere and I don’t like to see it – is ‘Charles 2.0’.
“This is not the case. I’ve had growth from year to year that is linear.”
Leclerc was one of the best performers of 2021 as Ferrari progressed from its miserable 2020 season.
He scored two pole positions and had a best finish of second in the British Grand Prix, although new team-mate Carlos Sainz scored three more podiums and finished higher in the championship.
Continuing his answer, Leclerc said: “Last year I never liked to put luck into place but honestly there were two races in particular where I lost many points, many valuable points, that weren’t too much in my control and this cost massively at the end of the year.
“And also fighting between seventh and fourth position, whenever you are doing a good performance nobody is noticing it, which makes it quite tricky.
“Of course I probably am even better now that I’m fighting for wins because this is what I like to do and it’s great to be back here.
“But overall, I think it’s just linear growth from year to year and there’s not a huge step from last year.”
Leclerc won two grands prix in his first season with Ferrari in 2019, which followed a very impressive rookie campaign at Sauber.
While extremely fast and an exciting prospect back then, he is more consistent now and has shown in the opening two races that he is capable of controlling extreme high-pressure moments.
Asked by The Race about how he has seemed to pass various tests of increasing pressure and difficulty through his career, Leclerc said: “Yeah, it’s a good situation to be in.
“To have more pressure means you are doing something right and that you are in the right place.
“I never particularly struggled with pressure, I have a mindset that is just focusing on myself and the job I have to do in the car, not thinking too much about the results and all the things that are around.
“But obviously seeing the last two years that have been very difficult and now to be back at the top gives a lot of motivation to the whole team, to me and it’s good to be here.”
