Amidst all the fanfare of the new Alfa Romeo Sauber F1’s and Renault’s car launch on Tuesday, many people probably missed out on the arrival Ferrari’s newest prodigy, Charles Leclerc.
While the other new kid on the F1 block, Williams’s Sergey Sirotkin was called a ‘pay driver’ by many observers on and off the track, Leclerc got a different reception.
Sirotkin brought along with him a significant financial backing from SMP racing. He was Renault’s reserve driver for 2017 and although he doesn’t have a stellar record in his previous series, he came third in GP2 for two consecutive years.
Leclerc is a part of the Ferrari junior driver development program. He won the GP3 championship in 2016 and dominated the F2 last year. His entry to Sauber came as a result of a larger agreement between Ferrari, Alfa Romeo and Sauber.
In a way, Leclerc came as a part of a deal much bigger than what SMP racing gave to Williams. But both the drivers are seen with different perceptions.
Irrespective of how they are seen, there is only one way for both the drivers to prove their worth – by their performance on the track. Being on a top-five team, Sirotkin has a very hard path to tread to emerge as a good driver.
Pressure on Leclerc is much bigger though.
Sauber is at the bottom of the grid and it will be a testy year for the Swiss team. Alfa Romeo’s sponsorship, coupled with a new Ferrari engine, will put a lot of pressure on the team to show improvement in its performance this year.
Speaking to the reporters during the launch event, the Monégasque driver said: “Being part of the return of a great brand like this is a great honour,”
“Everyone is saying to me ‘You’re racing for Alfa Romeo in F1, almost forgetting about Sauber!
“What has struck me is the passion of the people who work there (at Alfa Romeo). their eyes light up when they are looking at the cars, I’ve not seen that kind of enthusiasm too many other times.
“Having Ferrari’s support behind us will certainly be a great help. Our car is beautiful and I can’t wait to launch it and drive it finally on the track.”
There are rumours that the Italian team may replace Kimi Räikkönen with Leclerc for 2019 if the junior driver meets their (high) expectations.
While this is a possibility, there is also a chance that Daniel Ricciardo may take up the Iceman’s seat, giving Leclerc more time to hone his F1 skills.
But just knowing that you may have a chance at a Ferrari race seat in your second season, is a lot of pressure for a 20-year-old F1 rookie.
When asked about the future, Leclerc said: “This year I just want to concentrate on gaining experience and growing as quickly as possible so I can get results. The F2 title gave me confidence, but the jump up to F1 is enormous,”
