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Leclerc reveals key factor in rookie season

Leclerc reveals key factor in rookie season

16-01-2019 11:30 Last update: 11:30
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Bobby Vincent

Charles Leclerc has revealed that identifying his weaknesses was a key breakthrough for him in his impressive rookie F1 season with Sauber.

Leclerc's 2018 drive was so impressive, that it earned him a seat at Ferrari for 2019.

Sauber performed brilliantly last season, and Leclerc was right at the helm of that, with the Swiss team finishing the highest they have managed for three years; with an eighth placed finish.

Leclerc had a rather disappointing start to life in Formula 1, and has accepted that he struggled to get up to speed in the first few races, but understanding the issues he had was key in the excellent turnaround.

"Definitely the first three races I've learned massively, I've worked extremely hard in the first three races just to understand and identify my weaknesses," Leclerc told Crash.net. 

"It was things that were just not going right, and after the first three races, we finally understood them within the team and made a big step forward and since then we were quite strong.

"At the beginning, it was quite intimidating to speak to so many people because you know that everything you are going to say is only going to be analysed not only by engineers, but by so many people.

"Not scary but intimidating, then you get used to it, then also the type of feedback you give you can be a lot more precise with everything you say because there's a lot more people in the background.

"In Formula 2, you try and focus on the main points as there's only one or two maximum focusing to get the car better, it's a different approach and it takes a bit of time to get used to it."