Charles Leclerc and the potential of young drivers.
- Richard Baxter
- May 25, 2018
- 3 min read
Charles Leclerc, in his debut Formula One season has already turned heads with some great performances, gaining significant praise along the way. But how justified is this, and what does it bode for his future in comparison to others?
In my opinion the praise he has received is no surprise. Since seeing him race in person at the 2017 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix in F2, I have no doubt that he can succeed in Formula 1. Forcing an overtake on Alexander Albon on the last lap, showed he had the killer instinct and talent to succeed in a higher category of racing. A clip of this overtake can be seen on You Tube.
Proving his skill and already outscoring his experienced team mate, Marcus Ericsson has him touted for a future drive at Ferrari. Not to mention receiving high praise from Hamilton and Vettel.
Yes, he’s young but that is no reason to not give him a chance in a top team, just look at how young drivers have succeeded in them in the past. Hamilton started his career at McLaren. Verstappen joined Red Bull in only his second season. And both have gone on to win numerous races and, in Hamilton’s case, World Championship titles.
On the other side of things, we have seen even in just the last few seasons other drivers who haven’t fulfilled their expectation.
Daniil Kvyat was dropped from the Red Bull driver program before the start of this season. Despite scoring points and podiums for Red bull at the height of his F1 career. Given the opportunity of a consistent front running car you would’ve expected him to win races and possibly fight for a championship. But with the arrival of Max Verstappen, a demotion to Toro Rosso and a fall from grace, it wasn’t to be.
Pascal Wehrlein entered the sport with a lot of high hopes. Being a Mercedes young driver he had two seasons racing with Manor and Sauber but failed to make a real impact. In all honesty this was mostly down to the lack of pace in the cars rather than a lack of talent. But due to the loss of the Manor team and the Alfa Romeo Sauber rebrand he lost his race seat, and with no other options available has returned to race in DTM.
For both drivers their Formula 1 racing careers seem to have finished.
The way Charles Leclerc has started his career though gives me the impression that he isn’t likely to go down the same route as these two, and he has a bright future ahead of him.
He has come in to Formula 1 at entirely the right time. Ferrari have an ageing Kimi Raikkonen and there have been questions around how long he will continue racing for the last few seasons. If he does decide to go it will be the perfect situation for Leclerc to step in to a front running team and even if he raced a couple of seasons as Vettel’s number two it will be the perfect opportunity to hone his racing abilities and perfect his race craft whilst potentially learning from one of the best racers.
Personally though I wish all the best to Leclerc for his future, and I am expecting to see him one day crowned Formula 1 World Champion… no pressure!
Comments