‘Serious’ Charles Leclerc ‘handicap’ identified in ‘expect more from him’ verdict

Dutch racer and pundit Tom Coronel believes Charles Leclerc’s lack of a trusted engineer by his side is “a serious handicap” at Ferrari.

Despite sitting third in the Drivers’ standings at the halfway stage of F1 2024 and winning his home race in Monaco, Leclerc has endured another inconsistent season with Ferrari.

Charles Leclerc ‘not the weakest link’ at Ferrari

The Monegasque sits just 15 points ahead of team-mate Carlos Sainz, despite the Spaniard being forced out of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix with appendicitis.

Ferrari has struggled with the return of bouncing since introducing a major upgrade package at the Spanish Grand Prix in June, with Leclerc scoring just 10 points in the four races following his historic victory in Monte Carlo.

However, the 26-year-old showed signs of returning to top form at the last race before the summer break at Spa, inheriting pole position from the penalised Max Verstappen before claiming his sixth podium finish of the season with third place.

Charles Leclerc vs Carlos Sainz: F1 2024 head to head

? F1 2024: Head-to-head qualifying record between team-mates

? F1 2024: Head-to-head race statistics between team-mates

Leclerc, who is known to have a close relationship with Ferrari senior performance engineer Jock Clear, received a new race engineer in May in the form of Bryan Bozzi, who replaced Xavier Marcos Padros as the voice in Leclerc’s ear.

In an assessment of Leclerc’s performances in F1 2024, Coronel gave the Ferrari star a rating of 6.9 out of 10 and stressed the need for drivers to surround themselves with a group of trusted engineers.

Coronel told Formule1.nl: “He won the Monaco GP, his home race, but mainly because you can’t overtake anywhere there. But here it’s going to stick.

“The car is not doing it, but there is more going on at Ferrari. He lacks an engineer he can build on, which is a serious handicap.

“With Leclerc, you just see that he doesn’t have the tools to pull it all together. Actually, it’s very simple: even in Formula 1, the chain breaks at the weakest link.

“He himself is not the weakest link, certainly not. And he balks at the situation. Logical too.

“On the other hand, you then have to maximise as much as you can. Maximising Max is possible at Red Bull, though, and his car is not top notch either.

“As a driver, you are also largely responsible for the team around you. And you also have to motivate those people. It’s a team and you have to grow together, step by step.

“But ultimately it is also an important quality of a driver to gather and motivate the good people around you.

“To sum up, I don’t think Leclerc is doing badly. But I expect more from him.”

The series of races following F1’s summer break, starting with the Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort on August 25, hold much promise for Leclerc.

The Ferrari man has started from pole position in Italy, Azerbaijan, Singapore, the United States and Mexico in previous years.

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