Formula Medicine CEO Riccardo Ceccarelli has said that Charles Leclerc “had to become calmer” as a driver to better his mentality whilst behind the wheel when racing.
Leclerc was part of Ceccarelli’s set up at Formula Medicine, a centre based in Viareggio that specialises in mental and athletic preparation whilst providing medical assistance to Formula 1 drivers.
Ceccarelli told Italian newspaper Gazzeta dello Sport: “It was Nicolas Todt, his manager, to take him from me at age 13, when he was still karting.
“I said: ‘this driver is going strong, let me know if you have the mental aptitude to become a champion.”
The Italian knew that Leclerc was something special after his evaluation test consisting of reaction times, concentration, visuospatial capacity, memory and visual-coordination capacity with a high score of 25 possible.
“Charles scored 24 during the training,” he revealed.
“Out of about a thousand drivers we have examined over the years, only two or three have succeeded.”
But Ceccarellia also says that Leclerc had a tendency to become angry at times which would affect him later on, something he encouraged him to work on at the time, but now compares the 22-year old to a certain World Champion.
“In every test he faced, he wanted to win. And when he couldn’t, he got angry,” he added.
“Anger is a sign of energy and motivation, but it is counterproductive if it is not controlled by the brain.
“The perfect driver who is calm but has a killer instinct. Charles had to become calmer. And he trained a lot to improve. The key is self-analysis, the ability to understand and admit one’s mistakes, to overcome them.
“To me in this he remembers Ayrton Senna.”