Leclerc: I will always try to push the limit

It is very clear right now that Adrian Newey and his Red Bull design team have produced another outstanding Formula 1 car. Last year's RB18 was mighty and allowed both the team and their star driver Verstappen to cruise to last year's F1 titles.

This year the Red Bull RB19 is even better. Still unbeaten in ten races, with Verstappen heading to a triple F1 title. Ferrari on the other hand, are 'lost at sea' so to speak since they lost their way early last year. And have not recovered since. Leclerc's last win, his fifth in F1, was at the 2022 Austrian Grand Prix, the last time the Reds took home a P1 trophy a year ago.

Since then he and his teammate have been chasing, chasing hard. Chasing too hard and the results have been bent metal. Leclerc's self-inflicted mistakes are always immediately followed by his contrite admissions. Some suggest he is overly hard on himself.

Speaking to The Guardian, Leclerc explained: “I am very self-critical when I make a mistake but as part of a team I try to be very objective and very straight with them. I try to push everybody to have the same approach, to be self-critical and try to learn from it and improve.”

“My mentality has always been to push at the maximum and not leave anything on the table. When you have a trickier car to drive, as is the case for the first part of this season, mistakes happen. I know this. Whenever there is something missing I am trying to find something that is not there, I will always try to push the limit.”

Ferrari are in a state of massive upheaval after the departure of Mattia Binotto, replaced by Leclerc's one-time mentor Fred Vasseur brought in to rebuild the team at Maranello, which now is in the expected disarray of transformation as oldtimers leave and newcomers arrive.

Whatever the case, the question ahead of Grand Prix weekends is no longer 'Can Ferrari win this one?' Nowadays it's 'How are Ferrari going to drop the ball today?'

Mistakes in execution, strategy gaffes, erratic pitstops... No surprise Sainz and Leclerc are not shy to berate their team, over the radio, in the heat of battle.

"We disagree sometimes as we are very honest with one another," admitted Leclerc of the radio noise between team pitwall and driver. "I say to the team what I think and the team say what they think. This is the way to move forward. I don’t think trust has ever been an issue. We have a very different vision inside the car than what the team has on the pit wall, so these things happen.”

The harsh reality for the 25-year-old is that while marches on, his F1 wins record has remained stagnant for over a year, at five in 113 Grand Prix starts. When will Charles wina again? Who knows?

In contrast, the benchmark driver is Verstappen who is the same age as Charles but has an incredible record of 43 victories in his 173 GP starts, and he is only getting started. When will Max win again? Next Sunday in Hungary. And after that, and after that etc etc.

With this year's F1 title race done and dusted [spoiler alert!] Max will be Champ again and so will RBR. What motivates Leclerc: “I am the first one who wants to be in a title fight, but it’s not frustrating, it motivates me a lot. I am even more motivated to change that, to bring Ferrari back to where it deserves to be, which is consistently on top. Once we get there I am sure it will be a very, very special moment."

No matter how successful or unsuccessful other F1 teams are, no one really cares on a global level. When Red Bull could not catch Mercedes for almost a decade, the vibe was 'so be it'. Only the team and their fans cared. Nowadays Mercedes' woes are well documented, but apart from their fans and team, few care for their plight.

When Ferrari is not winning the whole of F1 should care. And indeed they do, as Toto Wolff, Christian Horner, Helmut Marko - even Verstappen - know that a strong Scuderia is good for F1. Beating them in a fair and square fight sweetens victories so much more. That's what makes the Reds so unique in sport. The team that F1 cannot afford to lose.

Homegrown within the Maranello driver programme from an early age, Leclerc knows too well what expectations are for the world's most supported team and their legendary Tifosi: “This year is far away from where we expected it to be but being a Ferrari driver is something very special.

"I don’t feel the outside pressure but I am putting myself under a lot of pressure in order to succeed, the responsibility of bringing Ferrari back to the top. The passion people have for the team is like nobody else. This comes with the good side that there is so much enthusiasm but it comes with things more difficult to manage, that because of this passion people are quite impatient.”

The impatience Leclerc mentions is fueled by the fact that the Tifosi have not celebrated an F1 world championship victory since 2008 when they last won the constructors' title. Kimi Raikkonen won their last F1 drivers' crown in 2007.

Stats show that since 2009, Ferrari have won 43 times, including the Fernando Alonso era and Vettel's stint with the team. And zero titles of course. During the same period, Red Bull won 102 Grands Prix and 11 F1 titles with Seb and Verstappen. At the same time, Mercedes won 15 F1 titles and 116 GP victories.

In other words, Ferrari have done their illustrious drivers, past and present, no favours, not many wins and no titles.

For Leclerc, time is marching on and before he is trampled he has to hope the Scuderia find their magic to repay the loyalty of a driver who would be snapped up by Merc or the Bulls if the chance arose.

Meanwhile here is the reality check for Ferrari: