Ex-Formula 1 driver David Coulthard reckons Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc needs a World Championship under his belt in order to reduce the number of errors he is making.
Leclerc crashed twice over the course of the Miami Grand Prix weekend, and after his costly collision in qualifying, he managed to recover to seventh. Those incidents followed an encounter with the wall at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix a week earlier.
In recent seasons, costly crashes at circuits such as Monaco, Imola and Paul Ricard have hampered Leclerc as he pushes to extract the maximum from his car.
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While Coulthard recognises the immense talent the 24-year-old possesses, he feels the Monegasque is making too many errors at present.
“It’s not acceptable and that’s a chink in his armour,” he said to Channel 4. “He’s brilliantly fast, he extracts a lot from that car, but he makes too many mistakes and there’s too much damage.
“He knows it, the team will know it, they’ll accept it because what else can you do? You know, you’re not going to fire him, he’s the strongest asset they have there in terms of extracting the last little bit from the car.”
Charles Leclerc (MON) Ferrari.
06.05.2023. Formula 1 World Championship, Rd 5, Miami Grand Prix, Miami, Florida, USA, Qualifying Day.
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The 13-time race winner suggested that a title may have a calming effect on Leclerc.
“But I think that all he needs is a World Championship and then he will be the complete package,” added Coulthard.
“Right now, he doesn’t have that World Championship. Therefore, he’s driving a little bit desperate and driving beyond his own capabilities.”
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