m

I have seen so many inaccurate takes all over social media - “he’s no longer number one” and “Sainz is better” and “he’s not consistent” etc. Nothing could be further from the truth.

He has been nothing short of the ‘best of the rest’ despite his absolutely cursed season. He is the one pulling 20s+ gaps on the rest of his midfield group. Ten top 5 finishes, six P4s. One podium, when he should have had many more if not for his atrocious luck.

I can’t even begin to describe his terrible luck: Imola, where he carved out 27s ahead of Lando until it was wiped out with a safety car. Silverstone with his engine cuts, and I still don’t know how he dragged that car onto the podium on a power track. Strategy gamble in Turkey - losing the podium in a longshot for a win. Hungary when Lance Stroll went bowling. Russia where he was a fucking overtake masterclass until the rain, where Carlos was pitted first, causing him to slide out of the points. Qatar where he was hampered by an undetected crack in his chassis… which apparently developed at the beginning of the triple header, meaning he was in his third race weekend with a broken car. Then the red flag in Jeddah. And Monaco. I can’t even talk about Monaco without wanting to smash something. Yes, he crashed, but so have many others; they don’t get a DNS - only he does. Fuck - Max crashed in qualifying in Jeddah and started in P2. Everyone else that crashed in quali gets to start the race.

In a head-to-head comparison with his teammate, here are his results:

14 (Charles) vs. 8 (Carlos) in Qualifying

14 (Charles) vs. 6 (Carlos) in Race

2 (Charles) vs. 0 (Carlos) in Poles

2 (Charles) vs. 1 (Carlos) in Front Row starts

Charles has been convincingly ahead in race pace

Carlos is a great driver. I love him, and I’ve written essays defending him. I don’t want to take anything away from him. He’s had a great season in a new team. He’s a lovely teammate. He is the epitome of reliability. But fortune has also smiled on him this season. When he makes a mistake, the costs have been minimal. When he bins it, he gets to continue. When chaos reigns, Carlos gets a podium (his reliability where others fail is one of his strongest qualities). But when those things happen to Charles, the car/strategy team/weather commit crimes against him.

Not only has Charles been one of the most consistent drivers on the grid - his weaknesses from previous seasons: managing the tires, race pace, inchidents with other drivers, etc. - he has worked on and improved in every single facet. He never blames the team, even when their strategy completely fucks him (see: last Sunday). He’s always gracious to his teammate. He remembered to congratulate Max and Lewis despite his own disappointment. He said to Canal+ last weekend that Monaco is “still stuck in his throat,” and yet he takes every blow and carries on, always working to improve himself.

And Carlos is right when he said it doesn’t matter whether it’s P5 or P6 or P7. And maybe it doesn’t matter to him or Charles. Because both of them are better people than I could ever be. Because fuck, I was no, I still am fucking crushed when Ferrari’s terrible strategy last weekend cost Charles P5 and P6. Why? Because despite all of his shit ass luck this season, I wanted to say - look, he clawed and fought like a champion, and wrestled that position in the standings that should be his. I really - desperately - wanted that for him.

It actually fills me with incandescent RAGE when people are mocking him, downplaying his season, ignoring all the progress he has made. When they are utterly ignorant of how amazing his driving has been this whole year. Maybe I shouldn’t care, when the people that matter already know the truth: Mattia Binotto who called him Ferrari’s future world champion and said “you were very unlucky” and “we’re going to have fun next year - you too, you’ll see,” Carlos who is filled with praise and gratitude to him, Charles himself who should know what an amazing job he has done…

So, yes. But - 

CHARLES LECLERC • 16th October, 1997

🍒 happy 24th birthday to ferrari's prince 🍒

Noooo you're so right! And you're not the first one to pick up on this 👀

Yeah like I get that Carlos is happy but it was a bit :/// considering how Charles's race went and generally the vibe was a lot different compared to Turkey. I still go feral whenever I remember that Charles paused in the middle of his angry multi-lingual rant to congratulate Seb. And that Seb mentioned him in the press conference and said he'd go talk to him and assure him that it won't be his last podium. Literally no one doing it like them 😭

charles leclerc + i bet on losing dogs by mitski

CHARLES LECLERC x Ray-Ban