Charles Leclerc not giving up hope of ending Ferrari’s F1 title drought

Charles Leclerc returns from the summer break recharged and still believes that the 2022 title race is not over.

The opening stage of the season was a story of what could have been for Ferrari and Leclerc, as both saw comfortable championship leads slip away.

Leclerc won two of the opening three races, taking hold of the Drivers’ standings early, but a mix of driver errors, poor reliability and strategy mishaps combined to help Red Bull’s Max Verstappen into an 80-point lead over Leclerc.

Ferrari meanwhile trail Red Bull by 97 points in the Constructors’ Championship.

It was a summer break then which Leclerc felt he very much needed.

Asked by reporters ahead of the Belgian Grand Prix if he felt recharged by the summer break, Leclerc replied: “Yes. And I needed it.

“I mean the first part of the season has been full of highs or lows. So, loads of emotions and there’s lots of accumulation of emotions, which leads to being tired.

“So, I was quite happy to go on the holidays and I used these three weeks in the best way possible with my family, my friends. And yeah, it was just great.”

With nine races to go, the odds are now firmly stacked against Leclerc if he is to become World Champion for the first time in 2022.

But, until it is mathematically over, Leclerc will not allow his hope to fade.

Asked how he views the next nine races, considering that 80-point gap, Leclerc replied: “Well, I think we’ll take it one by one as a team.

“But for sure we need to try and maximise every opportunity that we have ahead, and I still believe in the championship of course, it’s going to be a very difficult challenge, but I will believe in it until the very end.”

A poignant moment as @PierreGASLY lays flowers and pays tribute to Anthoine Hubert on his track walk this morning.

Rest in peace, Anthoine. 💙 #BelgianGP 🇧🇪 #F1 pic.twitter.com/ltNqsBosSJ

— PlanetF1 (@Planet_F1) August 25, 2022

Spa is a track which holds both happy and heartbreaking memories for Leclerc.

While this was the scene of his first grand prix victory back in 2019, Spa is also the venue where Leclerc’s friend Anthoine Hubert tragically lost his life that year in a Formula 2 crash.

This is a track though which Leclerc very much enjoys from a driving point of view, and he hopes for more success here in his latest visit.

“It is a very special track for me, obviously I think for every driver, the first victory is very special,” the Ferrari driver stated.

“I got it here in very strange conditions obviously with what happened on the Saturday with Antoine, but it’s a track I really enjoy driving all the time. And hopefully more of a great result this weekend.”