From his sole run in Q3 at the season-opening round in Bahrain, which secured him a place on the second row of the grid, Charles Leclerc demonstrated the higher level Ferrari had reached in 2021 following their disastrous campaign the year before.
Charles LeclercBeat team mate in qualifying13/22Beat team mate in race14/20Races finished20/21Laps spent ahead of team mate775/1144Qualifying margin-0.02sPoints159
Of the team’s two drivers, Leclerc was the one who hit that level most consistently. At Silverstone he came within three laps of delivering the victory which has eluded the team since 2019.
Nonetheless Leclerc ended the season behind his team mate Carlos Sainz Jnr in the points standings. This was in part due to some misfortune, but there were also times when he left points on the table.
Leclerc ran in front of where the car belonged in the opening stages in Bahrain, before the likes of Valtteri Bottas and Sergio Perez inevitably found their way past in much quicker cars, as did…