Jacques Villeneuve insists: Leclerc must prove himself / Formula 1

Next year, Charles Leclerc will have a new teammate at his Ferrari club who has already won seven world titles. With 103 GP wins, Lewis Hamilton is the most successful driver in Formula 1 history, so expectations are high for the 39-year-old Brit, even though Hamilton’s last win was more than two years ago.

Leclerc’s track record is more modest: the 26-year-old from Monte Carlo has achieved five victories and a total of 32 podium positions in 127 GP appearances. However, he is considered a driver with the qualities of a world champion. He has not only proven that he is considered one of the biggest talents in the Formula 1 field with his first positions. He always manages to shine behind the wheel of his red goddess – most recently at the most recent race in Japan, in which he stopped just once after an early red flag because he kept his tires alive for an unusually long time.

However: Leclerc still has to prove that he has what it takes to be world champion, as Jacques Villeneuve insists. The 1997 world champion said in an interview with his colleagues from “gpfans.com”: “Lewis Hamilton has already won world championship titles, he has won many races and he has really achieved everything.”

“This is completely different to drivers who were brought into Ferrari without winning a world title or a GP victory, and whose image as world champion drivers was built by the team. For example, the image of Leclerc was built, but he has not yet proven his championship qualities of the world,” added the 53-year-old Canadian, who is looking forward to the intra-team comparison between Hamilton and Leclerc.

World Championship Standings (after 4 out of 24 Grands Prix)

the driver
01. Verstappen 77 points
02. Perez 64
03. Leclerc 59
04. Sainz 55
05. Norris 37
06. Plate 32
07. Russell 24
08. Alonso 24
09. Hamilton 10
10. Walk 7
11. Tsunoda 7
12. Oliver Bearman 6
13. Hulkenberg 3
14. Magnussen 1
15. Alboni 0
16. Zhou 0
17. Ricciardo 0
18. Okon 0
19. 0 gas
20. Bota 0
21. Sergeant 0

Builders Cup
01. Red Bull Racing 141 Punkte
02. Ferrari 120
03. McLaren 69
04. Mercedes 34
05. Aston Martin 33
06. Running Bull 7
07. Especially 4
08. Williams 0
09. Sauber 0
10. Alpine 0