Felipe Massa believes "Charles Leclerc is the key man for Ferrari"

Former Scuderia Ferrari driver Felipe Massa feels that Charles Leclerc can do for the Maranello team what Max Verstappen is currently doing at Red Bull and what Lewis Hamilton did for Mercedes in the previous seasons, describing the Monegasque driver as the Scuderia’s “key man”.

Last season, after two years without a single Grand Prix win, Scuderia Ferrari returned to fighting for pole positions and race wins. Charles Leclerc secured to race victories from the first three rounds of the 2022 Formula 1 season, Bahrain and Australia. Unfortunately, however, the Monegasque driver was unable to mount a title challenge against Red Bull and Max Verstappen: power unit reliability problems and several failed strategies (such as in Monaco, at Silverstone and at Hungaroring) made it impossible for Charles to keep up with his Dutch rival, as Red Bull proved able to capitalize on the Maranello team’s setbacks.

Charles Leclerc ended the previous championship a distant second behind Max Verstappen, while his Maranello team-mate, Carlos Sainz finished the season in P5 and also took his first Formula 1 race victory at the Silverstone circuit in the British Grand Prix. In the second part of the 2022 F1 campaign, team principal Mattia Binotto found himself in the difficult situation of facing the Maranello team’s downfall, while also having to grapple with questions from fans and media as to why the Italian side did not decide to back Charles Leclerc in the duel for the F1 title, taking into consideration his solid start and his early lead over his teammate.

This situation was also pointed out to new Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur a few days ago. He explained that “what is clear is that the goal is to win with Ferrari, there will be no number one or number two. But if we have to act at some point, it will be done.” – he replied.

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Former Ferrari driver Felipe Massa is confident that when the moment will be right, Fred Vasseur will have to make such a decision and prioritize one driver on track. The Brazilian supports Charles Leclerc and believes he will be the one to challenge Red Bull and Mercedes for the Ferrari title: “The car must be successful and the team functioning, the rest must be done by the drivers,” Felipe Massa said, in a recent interview for the Italian daily newspaper Corriere dello Sport: – “After five or six races you understand who is in the lead. Last year, after three grands prix, everything was already clear. Carlos Sainz was the best in his first year but the car was not competitive. When the car was going strong, in 2022, Charles was clearly at the top” – the ex-Ferrari man concluded.