Charles Leclerc pulls back the curtain on the 'disappointment' that forced him to promise himself not to have any expectations

Charles Leclerc opened up on the 2019 F1 season disappointment that forced him to not have any expectations going into a season. The young driver joined Ferrari in 2019 as a teammate to Sebastian Vettel.

At the time, Ferrari had a stunning pre-season test where everyone picked the Italian team to be the most impressive going into the first race in Australia. The race saw neither of Charles Leclerc or Sebastian Vettel finishing on the podium, as the Mercedes duo of Valtteri Bottas and Lewis Hamilton dominated it, as well as the season.

Looking ahead to the 2025 F1 season, Charles Leclerc was questioned about his expectations going into the season, and the driver was quick to shrug it off. He pointed to what happened in 2019, and hence he had to promise himself not to have any expectations going into a season. Leclerc told the media, including RaceFans:

“I am confident to say that it’s been the best team mentality that I’ve seen since I’ve been here. I remember 2019 was my first day in Ferrari and I got there and I was so confident after the test because it went well and then I was so disappointed after the first race that I promised myself to not have any expectations going forward. So I don’t really have any expectations."

Charles Leclerc did, however, point out that, in terms of mentality, the place where Ferrari is in right now is the best that it has been. He said,

“But as a matter of fact, the mentality and where we are as a team is in a really good place at the moment. And of that, I’m very happy. Competitiveness is very difficult to judge because I don’t know what McLaren or Red Bull might have found in their development progress, or Mercedes as well. So on that, we need to wait a little bit more. But mentality-wise and the way we work is at a very good level and on that I’m very happy."

Charles Leclerc had an impressive 2024 season, as he finished third with 356 points, winning three races. The 27-year-old's first win came at the Monaco Grand Prix and his second came at the Italian GP in Monza. His third victory came at the United States GP in Austin.

Additonally, he was the runner-up in three races that took place in Melbourne, Baku and Lusail while finishing third in seven races.

Charles Leclerc praises the newest additions to the team

Charles Leclerc greets fans while testing for Ferrari (Image Source: Getty)

Ferrari not only has Lewis Hamilton, who has joined the team this year, as the likes of Loic Serra and Jerome D'Ambrosio have also joined the squad. Talking about the new additions to the squad, Charles Leclerc said that they were quite similar to how Fred Vasseur is in terms of management. He explained,

“What I really like about them is that they are very similar to Fred in the way they process emotions, which is a good thing. You speak to Fred, you speak to Jerome, you speak to Loic and you get the same feeling. That’s a very good thing because it’s a big team so not everybody speaks with Fred and not everybody speaks with Jerome, not everybody speaks to Loic."

Charles Leclerc's partnership with Lewis Hamilton will also be something that everybody would be keeping a keen eye on, especially if a title is on the line.