How well did rookie Charles Leclerc perform in 2018?

It was only one year ago that talented 2018 rookie driver Charles Leclerc started his F1 career at the re-branded Alfa Romeo Sauber team. The then 20 year old Leclerc was given a change to compete in the pinnacle of motorsport: Formula 1.

In 2016 Leclerc won the GP3 title and became a member of the Ferrari Driver Academy.

In 2017 he won the F2 championship with a dominating season. The F2 season had 22 races of which he won 7 with 8 pole positions. In total he scored 10 podiums and 282 points, 72 points more then runner-up Artjom Markelov. This was also the year in which his father died after a long illness.

Because of his outstanding and solid performance in F2, his manager Nicolas Todt (son of Jean Todt) was able to get him a seat in the Ferrari powered Sauber for 2018. He became teammates with Marcus Ericsson.

Ericsson already had 4 F1 season under his belt and was a good teammate for Leclerc to start his F1 career with. It took the Monegasque driver 4 Grand Prix events to adapt his driving style and get up to speed when he finished the race in Baku as 6th. His best result of the 2018 F1 season.

He scored points in 10 races and out-qualified Ericsson 17 times in 21 sessions. His best qualifying position was 7th in Brazil and Russia. Compared to his teammate it are very strong and consistent performances and it was already enough for Leclerc to oust Raikkonen's at Ferrari and get his seat.

The name Charles Leclerc ego's around the F1 paddock as one of the most talented drivers on the grid. He will be one of the youngest drivers ever to drive for Ferrari this season. But how does Leclerc's rookie season performance compare to the rookie season of other highly talented drivers like: Senna, Schumacher, Raikkonen, Hamilton, Vettel and Verstappen?

Below you can see the performance in the rookie seasons of the 7 drivers we referred to, and Leclerc's rookie season.

It's always hard to compare different generations of drivers driving different generations of cars, but it's very interesting to look compare those results.

The relationship between the names Todt and Ferrari probably helped Leclerc a lot in his journey to a red racing suit. When you compare his rookie results with the other rookies, you''ll see that Leclerc's performance is good. But you will also find out that he didn't outperform any of them.

The 2 drivers who stand out are still Hamilton and Senna. Hamilton did the best ever season for a rookie in history. If it wasn't for his shunt in China, when he drove into the gravel pit at the pit entrance, due to warn-out rear tyres, he would have become F1 drivers championship winner in his first season!

1984 Monaco F1 GP Senna driving the Toleman TG184 Hart

Senna also had great first season in a Toleman. The Toleman car was quite quick, but broke down a lot. The best car to compare it with was maybe last years car of Haas. The Toleman team started racing in Formula 1 in 1981. Senna won their only 3 podiums in 1984. His first podium was the best. It was in Monaco, were the track was socking wet and if it wasn't red flagged after 31 laps, he would have probably won his 6th F1 race.

We for sure hope that Charles Leclerc will do a good job and that he will give Vettel a hard time. If you are certain he will do a good job, you can place some bets at Betsson to win some big money.

When you look at the statistics of both 2019 Ferrari drivers, you will see that there are still a lot of zero's on Leclerc's record. How many zero's will disappear? That will be very interesting to watch this upcoming 2019 F1 season.

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