Ferrari boss draws comparisons with Michael Schumacher, Lewis Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel on role Charles Leclerc plays in team

Ferrari team boss Frederic Vasseur has explained Charles Leclerc's role in the team.

Charles Leclerc is looking to win his first world title with Ferrari but trails Red Bull's Max Verstappen. However, Vasseur reckons that the wins will eventually come. Speaking to the media, including Sportskeeda, Vasseur explained how Leclerc is involved in the development of the team and the car:

"He’s involved in the development of the team. He’s part of the development because he’s developing himself. He’s a performance contributor, both on-track and out of the track. And as long as he will play this role, we are on a good path."

Furthermore, he dove deep into how teams build themselves around a driver and how every success story in F1, be it Michael Schumacher with Ferrari or Lewis Hamilton with Mercedes, takes time and effort. Vasseur continued:

"It’s true in every single team that you are always building a team around the driver. If you have a look over the last 20 years or even more, all the successful top stories in F1 took time, but it was always a team built-up around one driver. It was true with Lewis at Mercedes; it was true before with Michael at Ferrari; it was true with Alonso at Renault; it was true everywhere. Vettel and Red Bull, you can find tons of examples."

Coming back to Chales Leclerc, Vasseur said that he's an important pillar of the team and plays a key role:

"For sure, Charles is an important pillar of the performance, and he has to play the role into the car, outside of the car to be a performance contributor, and he is fully supportive on this part of the job. And I’m really convinced that it’s also a personal commitment from himself."

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Ferrari boss says Charles Leclerc has not lost his motivation

After a horrendous 2023 Australian GP, Charles Leclerc was devastated. However, Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur has reassured that the Monagasque has not lost his motivation to compete at a high level and fight for championships. Vasseur said:

"I have absolutely no doubts about the integrity of Charles's motives. Surely, the start of the season wasn't what we wanted and what he wanted to have; there was the retirement in Bahrain, the penalty in Jeddah and the retirement in Melbourne, which was certainly not in the plans, but the motivation is intact."

Charles Leclerc had one of the worst starts to a season, scoring only six points from the first three races. He's tenth in the drivers' championship.