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GPToday.net's 2019 F1 driver rankings - #7 - Charles Leclerc

Published on 17 Dec 2019 13:30
10
By: Harry Mattocks

Going into the 2019 season, there was a lot of pressure put on Charles Leclerc, as many questioned whether he could keep up with Sebastian Vettel. Nobody was doubting his talents, but as we saw with Pierre Gasly the pressure of being in a top team can prove to be too much to handle.

Ferrari had chosen the Monégasque driver instead of the very experienced and consistent Kimi Raikkonen. These were big shoes to fill after only one year in the sport, but Leclerc definitely managed it.

From the get-go in Melbourne he was on the pace of his much more experienced teammate, finishing only one second behind him in the race. Leclerc was told by the team not to try and overtake, so who knows what could have happened.

Just one race later in Bahrain, he really showed the world what he was capable of. He scored his first pole position to secure a Ferrari front-row lockout, and then was in complete control of the race after passing Vettel on track.

He was set for his maiden victory until he lost all electrical power from his power unit, a loss of around 160bhp. Due to a well-timed safety car he managed to hold on to third, but with his performance he deserved nothing less than the win.

Leclerc was far from perfect however as he had his fair share of problems. Early on in the season in Baku, he was one of, if not the favourite for pole position. However, a mistake meant that he locked up and crashed his SF90 in Q2, ending any hope of pole of the race win. He was very critical of himself for the incident, a trait which we saw throughout the year.

Just a couple of races later at his home Grand Prix in Monaco, Leclerc had his worst weekend of the year. A strategy cock-up by Ferrari in qualifying meant that he was eliminated in Q1, which is exactly the opposite of what you need in Monaco.

Overtaking in the race was always going to be difficult, but after a couple of good moves he became reckless. This recklessness ended up in retirement after a botched pass on Hulkenberg proved too much for his car to cope with.

Aside from these mistakes, Leclerc has overall been mighty on a Saturday. The former GP2 champion scored the most poles out of any driver on the grid, an impressive feat when Lewis Hamilton is in the field.

	Sebastian Vettel	Charles Leclerc
Qualifying head-to-head	9	12
Race head-to-head	11	9
Average qualifying gap	+0.144	-0.144

With more and more pressure mounting on Vettel to perform at his best, if Leclerc is able to have an even stronger, more consistent year in 2020 then he could be the one to seal the fate of his teammate.

Leclerc's best moment of 2019: Brilliance at Monza

If there was ever a time that you needed to perform when driving a Ferrari, it’s at the Italian Grand Prix in front of the Tifosi. Leclerc was put under an immense amount of pressure by both Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas but held his nerve to take his second victory and his surely most special to date.

Leclerc's worst moment of 2019: Crashing out in Monaco

Starting from P16, it was always going to be a challenge for Leclerc to even score points, never mind anything higher. However, after a very impressive move on Romain Grosjean, he became reckless with his overtakes. It seemed as if he was in a rush to get to the front, going for moves that most would not even think about. This backfired, as a failed move on Nico Hulkenberg put him out of his home race.

Race Ratings

AUS	BAH	CHN	AZE	SPA	MON	CAN
7.0	10.0	7.0	5.0	6.5	5.0	7.5

FRA	AUT	GBR	GER	HUN	BEL	ITA
8.5	10.0	9.5	5.0	7.5	10.0	10.0

SIN	RUS	JPN	MEX	USA	BRA	ABU
9.5	9.5	6.0	8.5	7.0	8.0	8.5

Driver Rankings

#20 - Robert Kubica

#19 - Antonio Giovinazzi

#18 - Pierre Gasly

#17 - Romain Grosjean

#16 - Lance Stroll

#15 - Kevin Magnussen

#14 - Kimi Raikkonen

#13 - Daniil Kvyat

#12 - Nico Hulkenberg

#11 - Sebastian Vettel

#10 - George Russell

#9 - Daniel Ricciardo

#8 - Sergio Perez

Manto02

Posts: 93

This means that bottas, albon and norris are ahead of him
I mean, norris and albon had a pretty solid season, but not better than leclerc
Bottas, was annihilated by Lewis as always, he can't be better than Charles
And don't forget leclerc is the driver with most pole position this year.
And I'm n... [Read more]

3
Dec 17 2019 - 13:46

F1 News Charles Leclerc Ferrari

Replies (10)

Manto02

Posts: 93
This means that bottas, albon and norris are ahead of him
I mean, norris and albon had a pretty solid season, but not better than leclerc
Bottas, was annihilated by Lewis as always, he can't be better than Charles
And don't forget leclerc is the driver with most pole position this year.
And I'm not at all a Leclerc fan, but given the position of Russel this is ridiculous once again
- + 3
- Dec 17 2019 - 13:46
- calle.itw
  
  Posts: 8,527
  Huh, you are correct, I hadn't noticed he was no 1 at poles. That's neat. IMO, he should be at least top 5, IMO top 3.
  + 2
  
  Dec 17 2019 - 15:22
- JuJuHound
  
  Posts: 352
  Isn't this ranking simpy build from race ratings average?
  + 0
  
  Dec 17 2019 - 15:28
- calle.itw
  
  Posts: 8,527
  It is plausible, however Leclerc had and average of about 7,88/10. For reference that is a really good score, with only maybe 5 other drivers rivalling it.
  + 1
  
  Dec 17 2019 - 20:18
- Ram Samartha
  
  Posts: 1,172
  "he should be at least top 5, IMO top 3" Right?! Clearly - 1. HAM 2. VER. 3. LEC
  And 4. BOT who had his best season yet. Maybe next season GPT will show exactly how they break down the race weekend scores. Just the fact that VER got a 10 when he caused a crash in the pitlane and HAM only got what a 9 after winning and a nearly flawless weekend shows these rankings are totally bogus.
  + 0
  
  Dec 19 2019 - 00:39
JuJuHound

Posts: 352
wth?

No more comments from myself here,
I assume this ranking is made to earn more comments from us...
- + 3
- Dec 17 2019 - 14:30
mcbhargav

Posts: 1,332
This rating is in line with the rest of the driver rankings.
- + 0
- Dec 17 2019 - 16:23
xoya

Posts: 583
Bwahahahahaha :D
- + 0
- Dec 17 2019 - 16:43
essaouira311

Posts: 158
HAHAHAHAHAHA !!!!
Hey, men....
The kid was the most brilliant revelation of the year.
RU kidding?
- + 1
- Dec 17 2019 - 16:45
- calle.itw
  
  Posts: 8,527
  I agree. Each to their own and rankings are subjective and stuff, yet I think we can almost objectively say that Leclerc should be in the top 5.
  + 2
  
  Dec 17 2019 - 20:15