Charles Leclerc’s Belgian GP win: ’Success comes with a darker side’ |

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By Andrew Benson
Chief F1 author
Charles Leclerc revealed on the best way to his maiden Formula 1 success that was overdue – that the strength of nature and mental toughness that’s an essential portion of the make-up of a grand prix driver – on Sunday.
The 21-year-old took a win – at the Belgian Grand Prix under stress from Lewis Hamilton – which should have come before against the backdrop of the passing and raced against for much of his youthful life.
After Leclerc took a part in his first motor race, among his rivals was Anthoine Hubert, who had been killed in a collision of dreadful violence at Saturday’s Formula 2 race at the menacing Spa-Francorchamps circuit.
Leclerc said – of himself, Toro Rosso driver Pierre Gasly along with Mercedes book Esteban Ocon -”we were four kids dreaming of F1 and we’ve grown up together. He was a very big shock for me and everybody else in motorsport and a very sad day”.
It even took the shine off what should have been among the happiest times of the life of Leclerc span. To say the least.
”It is very difficult to enjoy this first win with the scenario that we all had yesterday. Overall it means a fantasy come true. I have been looking a Formula 1 driver, that occurred last year dreaming of being up now, and then driving for Ferrari this season and the win.
”It is a good evening however on the other hand losing Anthoine yesterday brings me straight back to 2005, my first French (karting) championship was . It is quite difficult to appreciate it completely today but in a couple of weeks I will realise exactly what happened today.”
Dealing with these kinds of occasions is part of the job description to get a racing driver, as explained in my article. But that doesn’t mean it is insignificant or simple.
It isn’t the very first time he has suffered a loss of someone close to him in his career. As is well reported, he was the godson of the F1 driver Jules Bianchi, who suffered head injuries in an accident five decades ago.
Leclerc has described many times how the passing of Bianchi – who, at just eight years older than him, was like a big brother, and who was instrumental in directing him through his formative years in the game – simply forced him more determined to succeed.
Nevertheless, it is 1 thing to state quite another, and this to really go out and perform this, and risk your life in exactly the action that killed someone close.
After the race, Hamilton Leclerc and Valtteri Bottas offered some insight into how they do that.
”For everybody, I suppose, but for me it was the very first situation like this where we lose someone on a course in which you will want to rush the day after,” Leclerc said. ”It’s obviously rather challenging to shut the visor and proceed through this specific same corner at the same speed you did earlier, but that is what you have to do ultimately.”
Hamilton stated:”You compartmentalise it, then move forwards, get in and do the job. In the racer’s along with also an athlete’s point of view, you turn to a zone, and it’s quite easy to switch into that zone.”
”If you go to the zone,” Bottas added. ”There are no distractions.”
Their answers delivered uncomfortably, and were dimmed and short. Perhaps it pays to not have to talk about it too much, especially when the wounds are so raw, the feelings conflicted and perceptible.
On Saturday,” Hamilton had posted an eloquent message on networking, underlining his profession’s ever-present dangers, and it can never be secure. Following the race, his crew manager Toto Wolff explained the background to the world champion’s decision.
”It is quite tricky to relate to what is occurring in a car in case you haven’t ever driven a race car at such speeds,” Wolff said.
”Whether it is in real time formulae, all of the way to F1, in GT automobiles, or even prototypes, it is still a gladiators’ game. It is still about courage, ability, risk-taking. But through a camera lens you won’t ever realise what it feels like.
”We’re lucky enough for many years to not have these types of injuries and maybe forgotten how hazardous the sport is. And this is what Lewis wanted to express. I can completely relate to this.
”If you drive towards Eau Rouge with 260-270km/h, that resembles a 90-degree corner and you also take it level, it’s beyond understanding that these men do what they do and it can wind incrementally, just like it did yesterday.”
Leclerc would not have picked such circumstances for his first triumph, and he could have done with an race, for this was a success hard won, but against the toughest opposition there is.
Ferrari had dominated qualifying, their prodigious straight-line speed making up for their relative weakness compared to Mercedes in the corners of Spa’s centre sector.
But their use was likely to make matters difficult from the race,” and, as expected, Hamilton mounted an attack on the red cars that came away.
Hamilton remorselessly turned the pressure on the German, that struggled with his speed and his tyres Since Leclerc built a small lead in the first 10 laps over team-mate Sebastian Vettel.
Hamilton’s proximity compelled Ferrari into pitting Vettel they might have wanted, and from that moment his race was given the tyre administration of Ferrari.
It gave Vettel the guide when Hamilton and Leclerc pitted a couple of laps later, and also briefly Leclerc wondered if – yet – a triumph would slip through his fingers, after previous disappointments in Bahrain, Azerbaijan and Austria.
However, it soon became evident that Vettel was no fit state to keep him off. Since Leclerc closed in close to a second a lap, Ferrari ordered him to allow his goback.
Though, Vettel managed to have a hand in his team-mate’s win. He managed to hold Hamilton off for four laps, providing Leclerc a chance to construct a small advantage.
Had Vettel not held Hamilton back as long as he did, or’d Mercedes pitted Hamilton on precisely the identical lap like Leclerc, the entire world champion might have won the race, given it was finished by him around Leclerc’s tail. However, the Monegasque did just enough.
”If you’d have granted me a moment and next in Spa,” Mercedes team manager Wolff stated,”I’d have taken it before the race because we understand that our bundle in comparison to Ferraris using the straight-line speed is inferior.
”Having said this, if we’d really optimised our racewhich you can simply do post-race simply by being super-intelligent and saying exactly what could have been, perhaps we might have pitted one or 2 laps earlier. Maybe the pit stop could have been a little bit quicker and we would have been for the past two laps at their own gearbox.
”However there are many ifs that I’m happy with second and third.”
Traditionally, there is a triumph that themselves are actually announced by an F1 driver as a real rival in F1. For Leclerc, however, it is different. That came.
It has been clear that this was a guy who was anticipated to become a portion of F1 during the next ten years. His debut season for Sauber last season was outstanding, and his skill is still raw in certain aspects, and although a couple too many mistakes have been left by him, his second at the white-heat strain of Ferrari was no less .
Many suspected so it’s proved and he would give Vettel a significant run for his money this season.
Leclerc has out-qualified the four-time champion for the last six races in a row. Over the season up to now , he is quicker than Vettel more than one lap on average by 0.13secs. He’s three pole positions to the one of Vettel, and he has come to be the very first Ferrari driver to win a race.
Ironically, Vettel should have won in Canada, but because of following penalty and his mistake, but had his season gone differently this could happen to be the third or possibly fourth triumph of Leclerc.
He is slowly but surely establishing himself as the lead driver, a situation that is very embarrassing for Vettel, awarded standard status and his achievement in the sport of Ferrari. And Vettel faces a task sustaining his position.
As the season has progressed, the respect between Leclerc and Hamilton has become apparent. Leclerc clearly equaling Hamilton because of his success and his skill. And Hamilton, who has handled the younger guy hasn’t bothered to hide his respect for the potential and talent of Leclerc.
”His results speak for themselves, really,” Hamilton explained. ”It is not easy for any driver to jump right into a top team, let alone Ferrari, against a four-time world champion, God knows how much more expertise. To continuously from race , out-perform, out-qualify and out-drive that a four-time world winner is not easy to do.
”He has been very unlucky in a number of races this year. Could have been the third win now. There’s a great deal more greatness to come out of him and I am looking forward to seeing his expansion and racing together with him. It was fun today. He was just a bit too fast.”