"He’s not an A-Star; he’s a B+"- Charles Leclerc still not in 'same bracket' of Lewis Hamilton, Max Verstappen, and others, according to F1 pundit

Charles Leclerc is not at the level of Max Verstappen or Lewis Hamilton, according to SkyF1 pundit David Croft.

After the Ferrari driver's spin in FP3 at the Belgian GP, where he almost ended up in the barriers, Croft said that Leclerc is one of the fastest drivers on the grid but is a level below Verstappen and Hamilton.

Croft said that Leclerc has the ability to get up there among the elite but isn't there just yet. He said:

“For me, Charles Leclerc has the potential to be up there with the elite of the grid. When I say elite, it’s a (Lewis) Hamilton, a Verstappen, I’m going to put (Fernando) Alonso in that bracket as well. But at the moment, he’s not an A-Star, he’s a B+.”

Former F1 driver Anthony Davidson weighed in on the same and said:

“He’s a brilliant driver; he’s super quick, but he’s an unreliable driver in many ways, and if you’re a team boss, taking someone like that on, it comes with vulnerability, and to win a world championship, you cannot make errors like this."

Davidson also pointed out Leclerc's tendency to push the car every time he's in it, which contributed to his crash in France. He said:

“It’s all relative, you push the car to the level you feel you can. Whether you’re in a Williams, a Haas with all due respect, or Red Bull or a Ferrari, you drive up to the grip limit."

Davidson continued that Leclerc likes to 'play with fire', which eventually led to his crash in Paul Ricard. He said:

"And he said it opened himself when he crashed in Paul Ricard that ‘look, I like to hustle the car. I like to have a car that is strong in the front end, with the rear flapping around’. That’s just his style; it’s the way he likes to set the car up. And when you set a car up like that on a track like this, or Paul Ricard, you are playing with fire.”

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Charles Leclerc's reaction to disappointing weekend at Belgian GP

Reflecting on a disappointing weekend at the Belgian GP, Charles Leclerc was udnerstandably dejected, saying that the early pitstop put paid to his hopes.

"We started well, then on lap 3 we unfortunately had a tear-off in the brake duct that meant I had to pit when I was in P9," said Leclerc. "That set us back quite a bit. From that moment on, I knew that it was going to be a difficult race."

He added Ferrari lacked pace and need to close the gap in the next race, saying:

"The feeling in the car was quite ok, but compared to our competitors, we were lacking pace. They made a huge step leading up to this weekend, and we have to work on closing the gap."

Charles Leclerc is now 98 points behind Max Verstappen in the championship with only eight races left. The title race is all but over for the Ferrari driver.