Leclerc stunned by number of buttons in F1

Charles Leclerc says that Formula 1 is a big step up to what he's used to, expressing surprise at the number of buttons on an F1 steering wheel. The 20-year-old made his debut at the Australian Grand Prix last weekend, coming home in thirteenth place.

The 2017 Formula 2 champion displayed some encouraging pace during his opening qualifying session, finishing only one-tenth of a second behind experienced teammate Marcus Ericsson. However, he has admitted that he finds F1 a hefty step after competing in F2.

"In the junior formulas, OK, you step up, you have more power and more downforce,” said Leclerc. "This I managed to get to speed [with] quite quickly. But to be honest in Formula 1 there are so many other things that are new, so many people around and especially so many buttons, it’s crazy. And this helps also when you know what you can do with these buttons, it’s so powerful. The potential of improvement on that is huge and this will come with experience.

Speaking about his maiden qualifying run, the Monegasque driver says that his time was not representative as he made a mistake on his fast lap: "The gap is not truly representative because I did a mistake,” he said. “But at the end it happens, he probably had some things to improve also so it’s just the way it is at the moment.

"I will try to put everything together next time. [Qualifying] was one of my strong points last year in Formula 2. But Formula 1 is a big step up. And as I said also not being helped with the conditions, I didn’t manage to put everything together."