Charles Leclerc’s former teammate Marcus Ericsson believes that the Monegasque has done enough to earn the number one role for a title challenge in 2022.
Leclerc currently leads the Drivers’ Championship by 19 points over Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, with the Ferrari driver opening up a mammoth 46-point lead after the first three Grands Prix of the season.
However, with Ferrari’s pace relative to Red Bull falling away at the Emilia Romagna and Miami races, Ericsson believes it’s time for the Scuderia to throw their weight behind Leclerc in the battle for the titles.
While Leclerc has scored 104 points so far this year, Carlos Sainz has managed just 53 after costly errors in Australia and Imola, and Ericsson urged Ferrari to enforce a team hierarchy going forward.
“Charles is taking that leader role this year now and they’re gonna have to support him for that championship, I believe so,” Ericsson said on the F1 Nation podcast.
“I think the way Carlos has been driving the last couple of weekends, it doesn’t seem like he maybe agrees on that! He’s trying to be ahead of Charles but, like we’ve seen in the past, it’s always good for a team going for a championship to have a clear leader that goes for it, like Max and Lewis [Hamilton] have been the last few years. So I think the support will go in Charles’ corner going forward.”
Ericsson was Leclerc’s teammate in 2018, with the experienced Swede lining up alongside the rookie at the Alfa Romeo Sauber squad – Leclerc earning a promotion to F1 after winning the 2017 Formula 2 Championship.
Despite Leclerc’s inexperience, Ericsson said it was obvious to him straight away that the Ferrari protege had an exceptional talent.
“I think, already in 2018 when he came into Formula 1, you could tell straight away that he’s an extremely fast race car driver,” he said.
“I think there’s no doubt about that. I think everyone can see that.
“But also the way he works, his work ethic, you…
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