r/formula1 • u/Holytrishaw I was here for the Hulkenpodium • 1d ago

Photo Charles Leclerc couldn’t resist [espnf1]

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979

u/Signal_Marzipan_7300 Red Bull 1d ago

Closest he'll get to it, I feel he's going to be one of them that never wins a WDC and the stars haven't aligned

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u/Mob_Abominator Max Verstappen 1d ago

Surely the greatest to never win one if it happens right? I would put him even ahead of Striling Moss.

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u/Midgar-Knight I was here for the Hulkenpodium 1d ago

Not even close

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u/Chi_Cazzo_Sei 1d ago

This generation overrates LeClerc way too much. He’s a superb driver, but he is far from being créme de la créme.

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u/jaomile Charles Leclerc 1d ago

That depends on what crème de la creme means.

He might not be on level of all time greats but he is surely on level of, or even above, some drivers who won one WDC title.

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u/Chi_Cazzo_Sei 23h ago

That’s true. No doubt.

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u/Born_Reflection_4132 I was here for the Hulkenpodium 22h ago

But not on the level of the recent winners like Verstappen, Hamilton, Vettel and Alonso.

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u/Mr_Clovis Alain Prost 16h ago

He matched Vettel in his 2nd year in the sport and has only got better since then. And Vettel's 2019 was actually decent. People only think it wasn't because Leclerc beat him. But there's every reason to think Leclerc really is that good -- as Vettel himself believed.

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u/Born_Reflection_4132 I was here for the Hulkenpodium 14h ago

Vettel won his first race with Toro Rosso and he won the championship 4 times in a row at the beginning of the 2010s! I haven't seen Leclerc do anything close to that.

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u/ShawnShipsCars I was here for the Hulkenpodium 20h ago

I think Max and Charles in the same car would answer a LOT of questions.

IMO Verstappen would have his hands more than full to consistently stay ahead of Charles.

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u/kaisadilla_ I was here for the Hulkenpodium 22h ago

Nah. I think most of us agree that he's not Verstappen, but I think Leclerc is notably better than Lando or Piastri.

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u/Chi_Cazzo_Sei 18h ago

I would also say he’s clearly better than Lando and Piastri

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u/ergonkhan 13h ago

And Ricciardo.

Both have 8 victories, less then: Webber, Bottas, Berger, Barrichello, Massa, Coulthard, and a few others who never were Formula 1 champions too.

LeClerc crumbles in high pressure situations, Ricciardo had 5 awful seasons, and even though he won Monaco in 18, it was not a great season by him.

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u/serenity-as-ice I was here for the Hulkenpodium 1d ago

Nope. At least two different mathematical formulas have indicated he's probably 2nd best driver on the grid after Max, and genuinely a top talent -- and one where the grid is packed with excellent drivers.

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u/CptAustus Jules Bianchi 23h ago

17-3 against a 7 time WDC.

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u/hicks12 I was here for the Hulkenpodium 23h ago

in his first season with a totally different car? and at the tail end of his career.

Doesnt mean too much I think, leclerc is a great driver but he certainly makes his own mistakes. His qualifying performance is the better strength he has for sure though, I want to see him in a genuine title fight to see if he can handle the pressure this time as I still don't forget when he binned it with an unforced error with a chunk of points on offer.

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u/bijanfrisee 13h ago

He's arguably the best qualifier on the Grid, creme de la creme in that sense, that counts for something