Charles Leclerc told he’ll ‘never be World Champion’ by Jacques Villeneuve
Charles Leclerc has shared his thoughts.
Having pinned his colours to the Ferrari mast, Charles Leclerc will “never be World Champion” according to Jacques Villeneuve, who believes that reality has begun to sink in.
Now in his seventh season, but with just eight grand prix wins on the board, the 1997 World Champion reckons Leclerc’s star has fallen.
Charles Leclerc told: ‘It’s gone bad, it’s gotten worse’
A Ferrari junior said to the team’s next World Champion, Leclerc and Ferrari have yet to put together a perfect season – or even a really good one from both sides.
When the car had pace in 2022, Leclerc made mistakes such as his crash while leading the French Grand Prix, and when he showed form in 2023, his season was blighted by reliability issues with his campaign including a DSQ for excessive skid plank wear at the United States GP.
Seven seasons into his Ferrari career, Leclerc has two championship podiums having finished runner-up in 2022 and third last year, but he’s yet to launch a genuine title fight.
Villeneuve doubts that’s even on the cards for the Monegasque driver.
Seemingly more irate over the radio with his race engineer Bryan Bozzi than he has ever been, Villeneuve puts that down to the growing frustration of knowing he’ll never be crowned Formula 1 World Champion.
“Charles is frustrated because he’s probably starting to understand that he will never be World Champion,” he told Sky’s The F1 Show podcast.
“It’s gone bad, it’s gotten worse.
“Next year is a whole new set of regulations and normally that’s not when Ferrari is at its best, so it’s a difficult situation for him.
“He’s been there for a long time and his star has fallen a little bit.
“At least Lewis can rely on the fact that he’s a multiple World Champion so it doesn’t matter if the star falls a little bit. He will always be that big global star anyway, that goes beyond F1.”
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Such has been Ferrari’s F1 2025 struggle, Villeneuve reckons the only reason the Italian stable is fighting for second in the Constructors’ Championship is because Red Bull and Mercedes have only one car scoring points.
Despite a double DNF at the Dutch Grand Prix where both Leclerc and Hamilton crashed at Turn 3, Ferrari is holding onto second place in the standings by 12 points ahead of Mercedes. Red Bull is a further 334 points off the pace.
“They might finish second in the Constructors’ Championship,” the 1997 World Champion said of Ferrari, “but they actually are the fourth horse.
“They are simply lucky that in Red Bull, there’s only one driver scoring points and the same thing with Mercedes.”
And the Canadian is not expecting better for the local heroes when Ferrari races at Monza at this weekend’s Italian Grand Prix.
“Normally they have a special engine, special car, but I don’t expect that this year,” he said.
“They are way off. The car is not working. Normally the car is kind of working. It’s in the battle and then they get a little extra for Monza. A little extra won’t cut it right now.”
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