Charles Leclerc hails big-step forward as Formula One championship runner-up

• Sports

Ferrari F1 racer Charles Leclerc branded his achievement in Formula 1 this season as a big-step forward on Sunday, while the Monacan also had expressed a through and through optimism to race better next season. In the matter of the fact, the 24-year-old alongside Red Bull’s Verstappen started the season as title contender, though, three unfortunate DNFs due to engine failure while leading the grid by a comfortable margin had shattered Ferrari’s Leclerc’s title hope.

Earlier in the season, Leclerc had had a lead over Verstappen by a nearly 100 points. However, after the DNFs due to engine failure, Leclerc had to alter his engine and the customized engine which his car had received, had been no match to Verstappen’s Red Bull.

Leclerc hails F1 runner-up as a big-step forward

Meanwhile, speaking with a press agency after securing the runner-up position in the season finale at Abu Dhabi, Leclerc said, “Considering where we were last year, it's a really big step forward”.

Besides, addressing to the team’s mechanical unreliability and strategical mistakes that even had put Binotto’s job in line according to a number of media outlets, Leclerc said, “"I think we improved throughout the end of the season in terms of strategy.

We still need to work in terms of race pace, because on Sunday we seem to struggle a bit more. But we'll push during the winter break in order to catch them back a little. I'm confident that in terms of pace, we will manage to catch Red Bull back next year.

We can put 2022 behind us knowing that we made a lot of progress and, as from Tuesday, we will start preparing for the new challenge that awaits us in 2023”. Leclerc who won the season’s first three races before having been met with mechanical failures, finished 2022 as a runner-up with 308 points, 3 wins alongside 11 podiums.