2023: the worst start at Ferrari
The withdraw for technical problems in Sakhir and the 7th place obtained in the following race in Jeddah was not only synonymous with a disappointing start to the season for Charles Leclercbut also another statistic to forget: with suns 6 points conquered in two racesthe Monegasque has reluctantly established a negative record since he’s been with Ferrari, i.e. since 2019: never, in fact, had he set such a low score in the first two races of the world championship. If we exclude his absolute debut in F1 in 2018, when he was at Sauber and did not finish in the points in the first rounds of the championship, Leclerc had always done better than this since he wore the little horse.
The first two years
In the 2019debut season in Ferrari, Leclerc closed his first race in Red in 5th place in the Australian GP, to then conquer the first podium of his career in Sakhir, finishing in third position. A double performance that ensured him a total of 26 pointseight more than those conquered the following year. In a world championship upset by the Covid-19 emergency, the Monegasque obtained 2nd place in Austria, only to then retire in the following race, again on the same circuit in that case site of the Styrian GP, for an overall score of 18 points.
The last two seasons
The start of the championship was not particularly brilliant 2020, with two placements in the points zone but in both cases far from the podium. In Bahrain and at Imola, the Monegasque finished respectively in sixth and fourth position, with the then negative record of 18 points. On the contrary, it last world instead he was the protagonist of his best start ever as a Ferrari driver, with victory at Sakhir and 2nd place at Jeddah. Two results that saw Leclerc not only with a haul of 45 points, but even provisionally leading the world championship, later won by Max Verstappen. Below is the summary of Charles Leclerc’s rankings in Ferrari after the first two races of the season.
Leclerc, the haul of points after two races in each season in Ferrari
2019: 26 points
2020: 18 points
2021: 18 points
2022: 45 points
2023: 6 points
The Ferrari SF-23 has disappointed expectations so far, but Leclerc’s ranking it was obviously affected by Sakhir’s withdrawal and by the incredible combination of electrical knockouts which forced him to already introduce a third ECU in Jeddah in Saudi Arabia with a consequent retreat on the starting grid of ten positions from second to twelfth pitch. In short, a ranking too bad to be true.
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