Rivola: Be sure Charles will try to win right away

Rivola has witnessed first hand the Ferrari Drivers Academy (FDA) graduate evolve from a young and talented driver into one of the elite few good enough to become a Scuderia driver, the youngest since they fielded Ricardo Rodriguez in the early sixties.

Leclerc shone brightly during his rookie year with Sauber and from day one, of his promotion to the Scuderia being confirmed, he has made no secret that he is not going to the sport's most famous team to play second fiddle, and Rivola agrees he should not be reigned in.

He told Gazzetta dello Sport, "I believe and hope that Ferrari will give both drivers the same opportunities so that the best one will prevail. Sebastian has won four World Championships and is with the team for the fifth season."

"Charles is 21-years-old old, with only one F1 season behind him, and although this may seem to be an apprenticeship for him, be sure: Charles will try to win right away."

"He is very determined and only races to win, an instinct common to all the great champions. In his case, I believe that his character has strengthened with the tragedies that he had to overcome in the case the deaths of Jules and his father."

Young Leclerc has known the pain in his life, first, his childhood mate and young mentor Jules Bianchi died in tragic circumstances at Suzuka in 2015. A couple of years later, Leclerc lost his long ill father on the eve of the 2017 Azerbaijan Grand Prix.

When asked how Leclerc first grabbed Rivola's attention, he recalled, "It was his friend Jules Bianchi, when he was in the Academy, he could not stop telling me how good this kid was. On free weekends he would go coach and mechanic at kart tracks in France."

"We investigated and it immediately became clear to me that Jules had great talent, ambition and the desire to get to Formula 1 quickly."

Before Ferrari backed his F1 rookie season with Sauber last year, as an FDA graduate Leclerc was GP3 Series Champion in 2016 and a year later convincingly claimed the Formula 2 Series title.

Tivola continued, "A couple of times he left me open-mouthed. In 2017 he was dominating the F2 championship when he was disqualified in Belgium after the victory in Race-1 and forced to start last the next day. He simply said to me: Max I'm happy, I can finally overtake a few drivers!"

Asked to compare Leclerc to other big name drivers he worked with, Rivola said, "I worked with Vettel during his Toro Rosso debut in 2007 and with Alonso when he came into F1 with Minardi in 2001."

"Only in Fernando I saw the same racing rage that Charles has in him... and then he always pulls something special out of his qualifying laps."

The year at Sauber started off with a slight wobble, but once Leclerc got into his stride there was no stopping him. More often than not he punched well above his weight and was by far the standout young driver, let alone best rookie, last year.

And Rivola says the is still improving, "Especially in the management of the competitive fury I've been talking about. He did not make many mistakes in GP3 nor Formula 2 and when he does he has always learned from them. We have worked a lot on his mental strength."

In closing, Rivola shared a more personal experience, "The kids organized a party in December, Charles was sick, he sent me a video message: If my dreams are coming true, I owe it to you."

"But I'm the one to thank him many more times," insisted the Ferrari sporting chief.

https://www.grandprix247.com/2018/09/13/leclerc-i-need-to-deliver-i-am-not-going-to-ferrari-to-learn/