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For the opening rounds of 2022, Charles Leclerc was a genuine championship contender for the first time in his Formula 1 career.
With two wins from the opening three rounds and a healthy lead in the drivers’ championship, Leclerc had every reason to expect he would be fighting for the world championship over the year.
But Ferrari’s title challenge coughed, spluttered and died over the following months as Red Bull and Max Verstappen went on a rampage, taking both titles with ease. Leclerc had to regroup and refocus on the following season and hope he could renew his campaign for a championship in 2023.
This year, Leclerc’s bid for a world title never got going. He fell from second in the drivers’ standings the year before to fifth in 2023 without a single victory to his name – unlike his team mate Carlos Sainz Jnr. But although it was another season filled with frustration and false hope, Leclerc could look back on his year knowing that he had could be proud of the work he had done, both in and outside of the cockpit.
While his 2022 season had begun so strongly, Leclerc never had the chance to convince himself he was in with any chance of fighting Verstappen for the title this season. Over the opening three rounds, Leclerc managed to score just six points – his worst start to a season since his debut for Sauber. But it was largely in spite of his performance in the car, rather than because of it.
He deserved a podium in the opening race of the season in Bahrain, only for his power unit to fail with 17 laps remaining while running third behind the two Red Bulls. Incredibly, he was forced to take a grid penalty for power unit components in only the second round of 22 in Jeddah, dropping him from the front row of the grid to 12th. Despite that, he recovered to finish in seventh just behind Sainz after being faster than his team mate over the weekend. Melbourne, however, was a disaster. Ferrari’s tactics let him down in qualifying, leaving him seventh on the grid, and he lasted just three corners before spinning out after clipping Lance Stroll under braking.
Already, Leclerc’ season looked like a write-off. But then, something about the city streets of Baku made the SF-23 sing and Leclerc stormed to a stunning pole position in Friday’s qualifying session, becoming the first driver to beat the Red Bulls in any competitive session all year. He backed this up with pole in sprint qualifying – despite hitting the wall – but his Ferrari simply didn’t have the pace to keep up with the Red Bulls in race trim. Second in the sprint race and a podium in the grand prix was as good as he could ever have hoped for and showed that Leclerc had lost none of his driving prowess when his car was up to it.
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But after a sublime weekend in Baku, Leclerc followed it up with one of his worst weekends as a Ferrari drivers in Miami. He crashed at turn seven on Friday, then made an identical error to find the same barriers during qualifying to leave him in seventh. Then in the race, he genuinely struggled to clear Kevin Magnussen’s Haas and finished where he started in seventh, admitting later that he was simply trying to get his car to the finish.
One of the more serious problems Leclerc struggled with through the season was, like in 2022, poor communication with his team and race engineer Xavier Marcos Padros. That bit him hard at his home grand prix at Monaco as Leclerc ended up blocking Lando Norris in Q3, completely unaware that there had been any cars on a quick lap behind him. As a result, Leclerc dropped from third on the grid to sixth, which ruined his hopes of a home podium before the race even began.
A long run of rounds affected by rain caused Leclerc particular problems. Whenever he had to fit intermediate tyres, he seemed to lose drastically more speed than his team mate. This resulted in him being eliminated in Q1 in Spain and finishing outside of the points, then missing Q2 in Montreal in another wet qualifying session but recovering to fourth in the race.
He was back on form in Austria as he only just missed out on pole in grand prix qualifying. He should have started third in the sprint race but, again, was penalised for impeding Oscar Piastri before falling back on the damp track conditions as he struggled again in intermediate conditions. But he fought hard in the grand prix to challenge Verstappen and managed to do so for the most part, but the Red Bull was always going to inevitably demote him to second.
Charles Leclerc
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Ferrari appeared to lose ground compared to their rivals in the middle phase of the season and it wasn’t until just before the summer break at Spa-Francorchamps where the long straights allowed Leclerc to return to the front of the field. He inherited pole from Verstappen in the grand prix but lost the lead to Sergio Perez early on. While having to work hard to save fuel during the race, he managed to keep his pace up and hold off Lewis Hamilton to claim third and head into the break on a high.
Leclerc’s second half of the season was more consistent and impressive than the first, although it did not get off to the best start at Zandvoort. He crashed out of Q3 in the wet conditions and suffered damage from a lap one touch with Piastri that crippled his car’s downforce so much he was eventually pulled in to retire on lap 42. He recovered from that setback in the next weekend at Monza, however, but while he was involved in the thick of the action at the front as Ferrari pushed Red Bull harder than they had all season, he was out-performed by Sainz over the weekend and settled for fourth.
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Singapore ended up being his best opportunity for victory as Red Bull lost their unstoppable pace for a sole weekend. However, a small error at turn 17 on his final Q3 lap allowed Sainz to beat him to pole position. Looking to play the team game, Leclerc agreed to work in favour of Sainz to give Ferrari the best chance of victory. He jumped George Russell at the start and allowed Sainz to build a gap, but while Sainz ultimately ran out front Leclerc began to fade away in the latter stages to finish in fourth.
But while Sainz was the one who took victory for Ferrari in Singapore, that would be the last time Leclerc allowed his team mate to beat him in 2023. Between Suzuka and Abu Dhabi, Leclerc was the lead Ferrari in every grand prix qualifying session and race on Sundays. In Japan, where McLaren were clearly the faster team, Leclerc was incredibly strong over the weekend and overtook Russell for his third fourth-place finish in a row.
He stuck his Ferrari on pole again in Friday qualifying at Circuit of the Americas and pushed Verstappen hard at the start of the sprint race before being rudely rebuffed. Although his one stop strategy was the wrong call and he faded to sixth by the flag, it didn’t matter – he was disqualified after the race for excessive plank wear. At least he returned to the podium the next weekend in Mexico, finishing third after securing his second straight pole position.
Leclerc was back on the front row in Brazil, taking second behind Verstappen in a manic end to Q3. But he was cruelly denied the chance to even start the grand prix after his car suffered an electrical failure on the formation lap, sending him skidding into the barriers in the most embarrassing moment of the season.
In Las Vegas, Leclerc shone. He secured his fifth and final pole of the season and although he didn’t quite have the pace of the Red Bulls, he gave as good as he got from them. His last lap overtake on Perez to take back second was one of the most memorable moves of the year and it was hard not to lament how many potential duels between Verstappen and Leclerc there could have been this season had things panned out differently.
Heading into the final round in Abu Dhabi, Ferrari had an opportunity to steal second place from Mercedes. Although they were ultimately unsuccessful, Leclerc gave his team the best chance possible with another excellent weekend running behind Verstappen at every turn. He even had the presence of mind in the closing laps to play strategy by letting Perez through to try and help him slot in front of Russell after the Red Bull’s post-race penalty was applied. Although it did not work, it was another demonstration of Leclerc’s acute racing acumen.
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Although it had not been the year Leclerc had hoped for, he was clearly one of the top-performing drivers by the end of the season. In the final five rounds, he never started off the front row of the grid and finished on the podium in every round he was classified in as well as comfortably beating Sainz in all major metrics.
Rumours are abound that Leclerc is set to sign another beefy contract extension at Maranello. With performances like he had in 2023, it’s not hard to see why Ferrari want to keep him around.
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