Leclerc: For me it was not a given that I will finish in F1

Leclerc revealed the hard reality for many young racing drivers, as talent is not always enough for a young racer to climb up the ladder from karts to single seaters and then into F1.

Aside from talent, money is always a factor as it has become increasingly expensive to finance the career of a young driver up into top flight, not to mention luck and circumstances.

However, when you have a talent like Leclerc or his Red Bull rival Max Verstappen, it is hard not to be noticed and accelerated into F1, as was he case with the latter, the former going through the ranks of GP3 and then winning the Formula 2 title supported by Ferrari all the way.

And after having his fair share of fighting with Verstappen in karting, Leclerc is now battling the Dutchman in F1 both drivers putting on a great show of race craft and respect that goes back to their days as youngsters racing karts.

Facing the media in a joint session, Leclerc and Verstappen discussed their careers having made it to the top class of racing.

Quoted by Formula 1's Official Website, Leclerc said: "Obviously when you are young, and you are in karting, F1 feels so far away that, for me it was obviously not a given that I will finish in F1 one day.

"I think we [Leclerc and Verstappen] knew that we were very fast because we were already competitive in karting and whenever we change categories, we will always be competitive – but it’s still such a long way off F1 that you don’t really imagine yourself in F1 yet," he explained.

"But it’s amazing. I mean I have really, really good memories. Other memories that are less good but became really good with time!

"You get older and you look back on moments that maybe you didn’t enjoy at the time that are very funny. It was good times," the Monegasque concluded.

Verstappen added: "I always thought that, if I would make it to F1, Charles will also make it. You can see already from, I think, a young age, the really strong drivers, what they were back then, they are also in F1 now.

"It’s never been a surprise to me that Charles is sitting here and, of course, after that you need a little bit of luck to be in the right team here and there to get on the front row, but it’s not a surprise that we are sitting here together, I think," the triple F1 Champion reckoned.

While Verstappen has bagged three F1 Drivers' Crowns, Leclerc has yet to win the Championship, but gave it a go in 2022, the dawn of the new ground effect era as Ferrari started with a decent car.

However that challenge faded, and 2023 was not better, but there has always been enough evidence of Leclerc's talent, the 23 pole positions he has to his name, as he can be currently be considered the best qualifier on the F1 grid.

However, due to Ferrari's short comings as well as errors from his side, Leclerc has only converted five of those 23 poles to wins.

He will be looking for 2024 and for Ferrari to give him a car that can help him convert his one-lap speed into race wins, but he should also make sure he cuts down on errors, a weakness that has blemished his record on occasions.

Leclerc finished the 2023 F1 Championship fifth in the Drivers' Standings. There have been reports that he has extended his contract with Ferrari , while Ferrari Chairman John Elkann announced both Leclerc and teammate Carlos Sainz will remain with the team.