In motorsport, the old cliché that ‘second place is first loser’ has become a lazy way of discrediting what a second place finish can be – especially in the uneven world of Formula 1.
But as Charles Leclerc traveled to Bologna to collect his second trophy at the FIA Gala – marking the highest finish in the series – his defeat showed Leclerc and his Ferrari team beaten by Max Verstappen and Red Bull. 2022.
It’s off to a very promising start. Ferrari arrived in Bahrain with a real chance to challenge for victory and Leclerc took advantage of it immediately to overtake Verstappen for his first pole position of the season. Fighting side-by-side with Red Bull in the race, he faced the new world champion in a battle as tough as fairness. Before Verstappen’s retirement on the final lap, Leclerc more than claimed his first win of the season, ending Ferrari’s win drought and establishing them as early title favourites.
Another fierce battle with Verstappen followed a week later in Jeddah, with Leclerc eventually having to settle for second. But in Melbourne he dominated. He stormed to the fort by three tenths of a second and led all the races to take his second win in three races. All of a sudden, Leclerc was in the drivers’ championship with nearly double the points of any other driver and nearly two full races ahead of Verstappen.
But despite such a commanding early position, Leclerc proved infallible in the next round at Imola. After making Verstappen work hard to win the sprint race, he dropped two places at the start of the Grand Prix to run away from Sergio Perez in third. He then lost control of the Variante Alta while trying to chase down the second Red Bull and went into the fenders. Fortunately, he can continue, but his front wing needs repair. He eventually recovered to sixth and dropped good points to Verstappen to finish second in the championship.
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The pole in Miami was the perfect way for Leclerc to regain his confidence. But in the race, Verstappen was simply too strong to challenge and he and Ferrari had to settle for second. In Spain, Leclerc seemed unstoppable. He was fastest in every session and stormed to fourth pole on lap six – despite spinning on his first try in Q3. After helping Verstappen into turn one, Leclerc couldn’t have looked more comfortable in front of him. Then, without warning, his turbo suddenly exploded on lap 27. Zero point.
Heading into his home grand prix in Monaco, Leclerc was now behind Verstappen for the first time in the championship. He took the pole again, and even managed to start there, unlike last year. But while the car crashed in Barcelona, Ferrari’s pit wall ruined the race in Monte Carlo. A mix-up when switching to slick tires left him in fourth place and he could do nothing to improve his position around the tight road circuit.
Then Leclerc faced another problem in Baku. His fourth consecutive pole showed more of his raw speed – especially compared to team-mate Carlos Sainz Jr – but a second power unit failure in the three races he led raised his frustrations to new heights. He took a rear-of-the-grid power unit penalty in Montreal for this, although he managed to recover to fifth place in the final.
Another chance to win was completely lost at Silverstone when the safety car was deployed late in the race, leaving him on old, hard tyres. Leclerc was unable to hold off overtaking Sainz and despite a strong battle with Sergio Perez and Lewis Hamilton, he eventually dropped to fourth place. Leclerc’s deficit to Verstappen, who left the Briton, was now 45 points – a remarkable turnaround that showed just how strong his position was after the first three races. But that reverse happened not because of Leclerc’s efforts, but because of reason.
In a surprising turn of events, Leclerc’s fortunes changed on the circuit designated for his rivals. Leclerc missed the trunk leading to Verstappen and had to avoid Sainz in the sprint but was unable to stop on Sunday. He beat Verstappen for the lead three times before winning a semi-sticky throttle in the final lap to take his third win of the season and throw himself into contention for the Championship title.
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Following that up in France will be crucial in helping Leclerc gain some much-needed momentum heading into the summer break. With a bit of help from his team mate, he looked to be on his way as he held pole against Paul Ricard. For the first time since the first races, Leclerc battled head-to-head with Verstappen and fended off his attack in the opening laps.
But after Verstappen came in and Leclerc had to push, he threw the entire weekend by taking control of Beauset’s car and driving into the barriers – his third retirement of the season and the first in which he has been outright. blame
After another head-scratching strategy decision by Ferrari at Hangaroring left him sixth and 80 points behind Verstappen, any real hope of Leclerc clawing his way back into contention was dead. He suffered more bad luck at Spa when he suffered a tear in a brake hose early in the race, forcing Ferrari to drop him early, then his attempt on the fastest lap failed miserably when he reached the pit lane speed limit. It is a place for zero profit.
By now, Verstappen and Red Bull were untouchable. As Verstappen continued to march towards the championship, Leclerc at least had teammate Sainz as a benchmark. Back-to-back pole positions at Ferrari’s home races at Monza and Singapore helped the stats, but Ferrari used their development budget at this stage to catch up with Mercedes. Leclerc continued to fight hard throughout the race days, however, pushing the post even in the conditions of the final lap at Suzuka. It decided the title in favor of Verstappen with four races.
As Ferrari struggled to match the Red Bulls at the end of the season, Sainz began beating his team-mate at the checkered flag for the first time in the year. But Leclerc again did not get any favor from the team, who decided to send it on medium tires in Q3, still dry at Interlagos, then call too late to change to slicks.
But in Abu Dhabi, with nothing to compete for other than the ‘glory’ of being the first driver to lose to Verstappen, Leclerc produced his best drive in the second half of the season. He made a one-stop strategy and pushed himself and his tires to the limit to get to the point where Perez couldn’t chase him down, putting him in second place at the finish. As is typical of Leclerc’s season, he struggled a lot, but was rewarded very little in the end.
Leclerc’s most successful season with Ferrari was also a disappointing one, with his dream of challenging for the world championship for the first time in his career disappearing like smoke from the back of his car. But at least for the first part of the season, Leclerc has shown that he has the nerve to compete with a world champion like Verstappen on an equal footing. And with former Sauber team principal Frédéric Vasseur at the helm next season, Leclerc knows he’ll be more confident than ever of his own prowess heading into 2023.
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