Charles Leclerc
Discussion
Seeing as there seems to be threads about drivers worthy of a thread...
I'm becoming massively impressed by Leclerc. Yeah like many, I saw him coming in gp2. He was clearly the class of the field - very fast and composed, but a racer? Yet what he has done to change his racing style since Austria has been immense.
He got schooled on how to be aggressive by Max but he's absorbed that and returned it with interest in one race. He almost carbon-copied the hard but fair "hangout" maneuver at the vale today, light contact and all, and for the first time I saw him make Verstappen back out of a move [into Stowe]. Max... rattled and backing out of a move?
He's transformed his attitude without compromising his ability to finish races, having been given just one example of where the bar is set. I find this literally remarkable. Unique to f1 iirc.
Obviously faster than Vettel. Composed. Measured. Level-headed and actually seems like a nice guy too.
Verstappen v Leclerc (with maybe some Russell and Riccardo thrown in]. The future is bright. So you need to fill this thread with forum fuelled negatives because I'm not sure I can find any glaringly obvious ones.
I'm becoming massively impressed by Leclerc. Yeah like many, I saw him coming in gp2. He was clearly the class of the field - very fast and composed, but a racer? Yet what he has done to change his racing style since Austria has been immense.
He got schooled on how to be aggressive by Max but he's absorbed that and returned it with interest in one race. He almost carbon-copied the hard but fair "hangout" maneuver at the vale today, light contact and all, and for the first time I saw him make Verstappen back out of a move [into Stowe]. Max... rattled and backing out of a move?
He's transformed his attitude without compromising his ability to finish races, having been given just one example of where the bar is set. I find this literally remarkable. Unique to f1 iirc.
Obviously faster than Vettel. Composed. Measured. Level-headed and actually seems like a nice guy too.
Verstappen v Leclerc (with maybe some Russell and Riccardo thrown in]. The future is bright. So you need to fill this thread with forum fuelled negatives because I'm not sure I can find any glaringly obvious ones.
Edited by mattikake on Sunday 14th July 23:23
I'm mightily impressed with all the young guns, especially this weekend.
Leclerc, Max, Norris, Gasly, Albon, Sainz Jr, Russell (in a s
t car)
All showing maturity way beyond their years.
Some epic battles between MV and CLC to come in the future.
Charles made a comment along the lines of 'I didn't know we were allowed to race so aggressively, but now I know it's acceptable, it's all good' in a press interview after Austria, good to see him get his elbows out and give Max a taste of his own medicine.
Fair play to Max though, he didn't complain and just got on with it, we all want to see wheel to wheel racing, it was a really enjoyable grand prix.
Leclerc, Max, Norris, Gasly, Albon, Sainz Jr, Russell (in a s
t car)All showing maturity way beyond their years.
Some epic battles between MV and CLC to come in the future.
Charles made a comment along the lines of 'I didn't know we were allowed to race so aggressively, but now I know it's acceptable, it's all good' in a press interview after Austria, good to see him get his elbows out and give Max a taste of his own medicine.
Fair play to Max though, he didn't complain and just got on with it, we all want to see wheel to wheel racing, it was a really enjoyable grand prix.
He's really found his feet hasn't he?
His move around the outside of Gasly (glad to see him having a good race too) was beautiful to watch.
I remember reading lots of negative comments towards him after the first race in Australia regarding his performance and thinking that people are being too quick to judge!
I'm just glad that Ferrari have a new point to their spear, and I no longer have to justify Vettel's errors! It's suddenly become a little more exciting being a Ferrari fan. I can't help but feel that Seb's days are numbered. I don't see him being pushed, but he may choose to bow out gracefully. My next hope is that Danny Ric has a performance clause in his Renault contract....
We have the next gen of drivers, we just need to hope that we do not have a one team monopoly in the future.
His move around the outside of Gasly (glad to see him having a good race too) was beautiful to watch.
I remember reading lots of negative comments towards him after the first race in Australia regarding his performance and thinking that people are being too quick to judge!
I'm just glad that Ferrari have a new point to their spear, and I no longer have to justify Vettel's errors! It's suddenly become a little more exciting being a Ferrari fan. I can't help but feel that Seb's days are numbered. I don't see him being pushed, but he may choose to bow out gracefully. My next hope is that Danny Ric has a performance clause in his Renault contract....
We have the next gen of drivers, we just need to hope that we do not have a one team monopoly in the future.
Gary29 said:
Charles made a comment along the lines of 'I didn't know we were allowed to race so aggressively, but now I know it's acceptable, it's all good' in a press interview after Austria, good to see him get his elbows out and give Max a taste of his own medicine.
Fair play to Max though, he didn't complain and just got on with it, we all want to see wheel to wheel racing, it was a really enjoyable grand prix.
That was the key part of the race for me, Verstappen will race hard, and happily race someone whose going as hard as he is without any complaints. Dont get me wrong they all try their luck on the radios at times but that's game playing rather than anything else. Fair play to Max though, he didn't complain and just got on with it, we all want to see wheel to wheel racing, it was a really enjoyable grand prix.
Amazing thing yesterday, F1 cars cant follow close with these current regs, yet no one was having any issues at all around Pau Ricard, Silverstone or Austria actually, and I'm going to bet on Spa and Monza being the same. It's almost like the old circuits are better? (Paul Ricard is only really old in name only now I know but that's not the point)
This reminds me of when Hamilton arrived on the scene.
Multiple WDC #1 in the other seat, gets a bit shown up.
Chances of wins and loads of podiums right away.
Really quite "complete" and learns fast, seems un-phased by the pressure.
There are a lot of "experienced" drivers out there who will be worried. The Bottas, Hulkenberg, Grosgean types. No chance for them, even if they happen to get in the seat next to them in the top 3 teams. They will be relegated to Massa, Webber, Barichello levels...
Putting HAM in the "old" generation now. There is going to be a missing generation with no WDC as I cant see it not going to CLC, VER really when HAM bows out?
Multiple WDC #1 in the other seat, gets a bit shown up.
Chances of wins and loads of podiums right away.
Really quite "complete" and learns fast, seems un-phased by the pressure.
There are a lot of "experienced" drivers out there who will be worried. The Bottas, Hulkenberg, Grosgean types. No chance for them, even if they happen to get in the seat next to them in the top 3 teams. They will be relegated to Massa, Webber, Barichello levels...
Putting HAM in the "old" generation now. There is going to be a missing generation with no WDC as I cant see it not going to CLC, VER really when HAM bows out?
Having been an avid F1 fan since year dot I found myself becoming increasingly disinterested over the past 7/10 years for reasons that I’m sure have been e pressed by others. Now a new crop of young talented drivers are fresh to the grid they seem to have injected genuine excitement back into. the sport.
Just need to dump some of that down force on the cars now, imo.
Just need to dump some of that down force on the cars now, imo.
If you follow the "new crowd" in f3/f2 its very apparent how much they try to enforce driving standards/racing room - to the point you see a fair degree of self policing, drivers handing back places after passes that could be deemed to be suss etc - Charles is very much a product of this, wheras with max he was leap frogged it to suit RBs PR agenda and drives the way he sees fit.
Without choosing a side its interesting to see the fia flip flop on their own doctrine recently.
But back to the point, yeah lec did his po face but his ability to walk away from it, accept and embrace and come back with an answer like that speaks volumes.
He's all the makings of a proper ruthless little too IMO, watch this space.
Without choosing a side its interesting to see the fia flip flop on their own doctrine recently.
But back to the point, yeah lec did his po face but his ability to walk away from it, accept and embrace and come back with an answer like that speaks volumes.
He's all the makings of a proper ruthless little
too IMO, watch this space.Edited by Teddy Lop on Tuesday 16th July 09:08
I'm still waiting for a commentator to go Joey on this and call him Chuck LeCluck or something :P
In all seriousness though it is so refreshing to have him and Max battling it out almost every race - whilst keeping it fair and clean, proper wheel to wheel action. None of this boring pit strategy bull that seems to have infested F1 of recent. Long may it continue and if the other cars (Mclaren - almost there, Williams) can improve and catch up I think we will see alot more of it.
In all seriousness though it is so refreshing to have him and Max battling it out almost every race - whilst keeping it fair and clean, proper wheel to wheel action. None of this boring pit strategy bull that seems to have infested F1 of recent. Long may it continue and if the other cars (Mclaren - almost there, Williams) can improve and catch up I think we will see alot more of it.
Think he is cracking. What is also good is when he makes a mistake, he is telling the reporters he was stupid and it was his error and he won't do it again.... But now he knows the rules against Max I think we are going to see a LOT more of those two scrapping week in and week out
ETA - what I was going to say as well is that the younger drivers appear to not be of the "I will stay here in sixth and get the points" but "Hey you are in front of me, that is not fair, I will now attempt to overtake you everywhere"..... It's great.
ETA - what I was going to say as well is that the younger drivers appear to not be of the "I will stay here in sixth and get the points" but "Hey you are in front of me, that is not fair, I will now attempt to overtake you everywhere"..... It's great.
mattikake said:
Seeing as there seems to be threads about drivers worthy of a thread...
I'm becoming massively impressed by Leclerc. Yeah like many, I saw him coming in gp2. He was clearly the class of the field - very fast and composed, but a racer? Yet what he has done to change his racing style since Austria has been immense.
He got schooled on how to be aggressive by Max but he's absorbed that and returned it with interest in one race. He almost carbon-copied the hard but fair "hangout" maneuver at the vale today, light contact and all, and for the first time I saw him make Verstappen back out of a move [into Stowe]. Max... rattled and backing out of a move?
He's transformed his attitude without compromising his ability to finish races, having been given just one example of where the bar is set. I find this literally remarkable. Unique to f1 iirc.
Obviously faster than Vettel. Composed. Measured. Level-headed and actually seems like a nice guy too.
Verstappen v Leclerc (with maybe some Russell and Riccardo thrown in]. The future is bright. So you need to fill this thread with forum fuelled negatives because I'm not sure I can find any glaringly obvious ones.
Austria was a strange race. It was easy to think CLC had no racecraft whatsoever - leaving the door open not once but twice and rather reluctant to take the inside to go for the crossover/undercut (whatever you want to call it) whereas Max learnt from his first bite at the cherry.I'm becoming massively impressed by Leclerc. Yeah like many, I saw him coming in gp2. He was clearly the class of the field - very fast and composed, but a racer? Yet what he has done to change his racing style since Austria has been immense.
He got schooled on how to be aggressive by Max but he's absorbed that and returned it with interest in one race. He almost carbon-copied the hard but fair "hangout" maneuver at the vale today, light contact and all, and for the first time I saw him make Verstappen back out of a move [into Stowe]. Max... rattled and backing out of a move?
He's transformed his attitude without compromising his ability to finish races, having been given just one example of where the bar is set. I find this literally remarkable. Unique to f1 iirc.
Obviously faster than Vettel. Composed. Measured. Level-headed and actually seems like a nice guy too.
Verstappen v Leclerc (with maybe some Russell and Riccardo thrown in]. The future is bright. So you need to fill this thread with forum fuelled negatives because I'm not sure I can find any glaringly obvious ones.
Edited by mattikake on Sunday 14th July 23:23
It almost seems a Charles turned on a switch that said "if that's how Max wants to race then so be it" and raced and match Max's level of aggression - one hairy moment of blocking on Hangar Straight was right on the limit of acceptability.
I don't subscribe to the the popular opinion that CLC is quicker than Seb. Still a bit early for that. I think its down to the romanticised narrative of the exuberance of youth; the apprentice taking on the master.
Charles is on form and Seb is now regarded as a broken man since Canada. About halfway in to the season still a long way to go in terms of the intrateam battle. Both have been inconsistant in stringing whole weekends together and you can see why Ferrari have had their pitwall SNAFUs because there hasn't been an outright quick driver in terms of WDC. The current standings doesn't lie. Charles is now only having caught up with Seb.
crankedup said:
Having been an avid F1 fan since year dot I found myself becoming increasingly disinterested over the past 7/10 years for reasons that I’m sure have been e pressed by others. Now a new crop of young talented drivers are fresh to the grid they seem to have injected genuine excitement back into. the sport.
Just need to dump some of that down force on the cars now, imo.
I agree and with Charles / Max we could get a new version of Senna V Prost, different styles, different temperaments, intense battles.Just need to dump some of that down force on the cars now, imo.
Game on.
We are seeing him develop,. and quickly, before our eyes. He'll make a few more mistakes, perhaps through overconfidence and then self doubt, but he promises to be up there and challenging the best pretty soon.
He appears to have learned a lesson from his Austria contretemps with Verstappen. It could well be a battle that lasts the balance of the season. We can hope.
He appears to have learned a lesson from his Austria contretemps with Verstappen. It could well be a battle that lasts the balance of the season. We can hope.
Gassing Station | Formula 1 | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff