Charles Leclerc aiming to make ‘fewer mistakes’ this season as he seeks to rival Max Verstappen for the 2023 championship

Charles Leclerc feels that he needs to make fewer mistakes this season compared to 2022 to challenge reigning double-world champion Max Verstappen.

The Ferrari driver was in championship contention against Red Bull until the mid-season break. However, he could not sustain the challenge as Verstappen and the Austrian team took a further step up against them.

While appearing on the Beyond The Grid podcast, Charles Leclerc spoke about his failed championship bid in 2022 and analyzed the mistakes made by him and the Italian team. He said:

"I have confidence that we will not have reliability problems and I myself will have to take steps forward, pushing to the limit but making fewer mistakes. The F1-75 was a good step forward, but not enough to win the title and therefore, we were very critical of ourselves in the end-of-year analysis.

"Last year, after the good start, a combination of things took over. Reliability, some strategic mistakes, and then at Paul Ricard, I made a mistake that cost us 25 points. This made us lose our way a bit."

"I'm sure Mercedes will be in the fight" - Charles Leclerc on the three-way title fight

Charles Leclerc has predicted that Mercedes will join them and Red Bull in the title fight this season. The German team briefly challenged the Italians for P2 in the constructor's championship at the end of the last season.

He said:

"I'm sure Mercedes will be in the fight. I heard loads of good things during the winter break, of Aston Martin, but it's still to be seen. I mean, yesterday, they were quick for the first day, but again, you don't know their fuel level, you don't know the engine modes, you don't know much. So it's very difficult to comment for now."

Charles Leclerc also spoke about the possibility of teams like Aston Martin joining the fight this year, adding:

"I mean, I would welcome anyone really. I would love for us to have a championship where all ten teams are fighting, or at least have a chance to fight for a win at one point and that is very, very closely matched. In Formula two, this was the case. In Formula 3, this was the case. And this is amazing because the driver can make a little bit of a difference."

It will be interesting to see if Charles Leclerc can push Max Verstappen heading into the new season.