Charles Leclerc became the first driver in Formula 1 history to win two qualifying sessions in the same weekend.
He didn’t even come close to winning every race, which sums up his career story.
Leclerc has the talent to drive beyond the means of a flawed car – like this season’s Ferrari – and he manages to post particularly fast lap times. However, he was unable to keep pace with the Red Bull drivers in both Saturday’s sprint race and Sunday’s Grand Prix in Baku.
He finished in second place in the sprint and third in the main race, which still revives Leclerc’s 2023 season. He had to give up in two of the first three events of the campaign.
“We got closer [de Red Bull], maybe a little, but our pace in the race is still far, and I even think that Aston Martin is even faster than us in the race, said Leclerc on Sunday. I can take a few risks on a lap or two, but in a 51-lap race there’s not much more we can do. »
Qualifications Specialists
Leclerc has now taken the lead 19 times in qualifying, excluding the session ahead of Saturday’s sprint. He only has 5 victories to his name. This clashes with the results of Max Verstappen, who took the lead 22 times but won 37 races and two drivers’ championships.
The last time Leclerc converted his lead position into a race win was in April 2022 at the Australian Grand Prix. Since then he has qualified a further 8 times in the top position, including 4 in a row midway through the 2022 season, but won only once when he started second in Austria before edging out Verstappen.
F1 has had its fair share of qualifying specialists throughout its history, and many drivers have been unlucky in races. During the 1980s, René Arnoux started 18 times in the lead position, but won only 7 times, often due to the unreliability of the Renault engine.
Different factors can explain the lack of victories on Leclerc’s list, whether it’s the performance of his Ferrari or its lack of reliability, tactical or pit errors, or even driver errors during the race.
When will Leclerc’s next victory come? He himself cannot predict it.
“There’s still a lot of work to do to improve our race speed,” he said. I think we tried everything. However, we are not fast enough yet. »