Image by Andre/LAT
First win a weight off for Leclerc
Charles Leclerc says he is going into his first Italian GP as a Ferrari driver with a weight having been lifted from his shoulders after claiming his first Formula 1 at Spa-Francorchamps last weekend.
Ferrari looked quick in pre-season testing but had failed to take opportunities to win in Bahrain, Canada and Austria before Leclerc's victory in Belgium last weekend.
“It was a very tough weekend for different reasons – obviously with what happened on Saturday, but also because we knew with the performance we had in the race it was going to be difficult because Mercedes were very, very strong with their race pace so it was a tough weekend,” Leclerc said. “But in the end we managed to put everything together.
“I think there was great teamwork between myself and especially Seb (Vettel), who did the job of keeping Lewis behind for a few a laps that have been very helpful for me towards the end of the race.
“Looking back, obviously I am very happy that this first win is done. It’s always difficult to do this first step, but once you do it, it takes quite a bit of weight off your shoulders, and of that I’m very proud. Not much time to actually think about it, because we are already four days later here in Italy and we need to focus fully on the job that we have to do here.”
Vettel himself has been winless for over a year, but says he has not been surprised by how well his young teammate has performed since being promoted to Ferrari in only his second season in F1.
“No, I think it’s positive that he’s surprised probably a lot of people outside, but inside I think we (knew),” Vettel said. “He’s been with Ferrari, with the Driver Academy for a while, and it was clear to see that he has a lot of potential. I think he had a very strong rookie season with Alfa, so it’s good to see that he’s right on the pace straight away.
“From a team point of view I think the most important is that we work together, not against each other. That seems to work, so that’s important. Otherwise it would be a bit of a waste of energy. So I think those are the key things.
“It’s obviously good. It was a big weekend for him last weekend, even though it was shadowed by the circumstances, the passing of Anthoine (Hubert), so not great but as he said, obviously it was his first one and I’m sure he’ll be around for a while so there will be a lot more.”
Chris Medland
While studying Sports Journalism at the University of Central Lancashire, Chris managed to talk his way into working at the British Grand Prix in 2008 and was retained for three years before joining ESPN F1 as Assistant Editor. After three further years at ESPN, a spell as F1 Editor at Crash Media Group was followed by the major task of launching F1i.com’s English-language website and running it as Editor. Present at every race since the start of 2014, he has continued building his freelance portfolio, working with international titles. As well as writing for RACER, his broadcast work includes television appearances on F1 TV and as a presenter and reporter on North America's live radio coverage on SiriusXM.
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