Ferrari driver coach Jock Clear is adamant Charles Leclerc is able to ship a world championship as quickly because the staff offers him the automotive to do it.
Leclerc emerged as one of many quickest qualifiers on the grid since becoming a member of Ferrari in 2019, racking up 26 poles thus far. His variety of poles contrasts with successful ‘simply’ seven grands prix, which has netted the Monegasque driver a repute of being a a lot better qualifier than racer.
However given a big a part of Leclerc’s Ferrari profession overlaps with the staff having been on the again foot in race trim, notably in 2022 and 2023, his skilled Ferrari coach Clear feels that this repute isn’t warranted, definitely not in 2024.
“His repute in qualifying has definitely been cemented over these years and other people tended to say to me two or three years in the past he is nowhere close to nearly as good within the race as he’s in qualifying,” Clear advised the F1 Nation podcast. “Nicely, that is probably not truthful. It is simply that he is very, superb at qualifying.
“It is most likely true that we have shifted our focus barely to creating the automotive a greater race automotive. Tyre administration is, in fact, all the time a sizzling subject. However we have seen Charles do some superb races. I keep in mind again in ’22 in Austria, the place Max [Verstappen] actually struggled with tyre degradation, and Charles received that race with a very good drive.
“It is not that Charles traditionally hasn’t been good on tyres. I believe that as a mixture we’ve not been centered that nicely on tyres.
“What we have seen this 12 months is the results of us being extra centered on getting the automotive working rather well within the race and taking care of these tyres, and Charles studying from earlier years and honing these expertise of tyre and race administration. So, I believe you are simply seeing a greater illustration of Charles as a driver and us as a race staff.”
Pole man Charles Leclerc, Scuderia Ferrari, Oscar Piastri, McLaren F1 Workforce, in Parc Ferme after Qualifying
Picture by: Dom Romney / Motorsport Pictures
Clear believes Leclerc “will ship” as soon as Ferrari has all the pieces it takes to problem for the world championship, which hasn’t occurred but in his six-year keep on the staff. Leclerc and Ferrari got here closest in 2022, however had been outdeveloped by Purple Bull as Verstappen romped house to his second straight title, whereas additionally throwing away factors by varied errors of their very own.
“He is obtained what it takes to be a world champion,” Clear mentioned. “He is obtained the qualifying tempo. My god, I actually assume he is one of the best qualifier we have seen. It is tough to return so far as Michael [Schumacher] and Mika [Hakkinen] and other people like that, however he’s one of the best qualifier for certain. And his race administration, in the event you take a look at Monza, it is simply distinctive. When all the pieces’s lined up, he can ship.
“Charles hasn’t been in that state of affairs but. Was 2022 genuinely an opportunity for Ferrari to win a world championship? It’s a must to say it was, as a result of at one level we had been 40 factors forward. However we weren’t prepared as a staff and Purple Bull outdeveloped us by the top of the 12 months.
“Definitely, there have been issues that Charles would say weren’t at championship degree throughout that 12 months, however that’s precisely the purpose. You are not going to win a championship till all of you might be at that degree.
“It is unfair to say that Mercedes solely received all these championships as a result of that they had one of the best automotive. They’d one of the best all the pieces. And it is the identical with Max [and Red Bull] within the final three years. Once we ship a automotive to persistently problem for championship, which I believe we’re on the point of now, Charles will ship.”