talent puts pressure on itself – Corriere.it

The world upside down. Flipped in exactly one year. Charles Leclerc won in Austria in 2022. His is his last success with Ferrari. Not only that: a afterglowbefore seeing Verstappen escape towards the title.

Since then, especially complicated days: the end of the harmony with Mattia Binotto, the declared need to have around a team oriented towards the most talented driver, himself; to drive a winning car. Risks, hopes, trust. Mortified in sequence. The balance, on the eve of match 9, is disappointing, (7th place, minus 20 from Sainz), the relationship with the SF-23 is complicated and tormented; the wall fails to protect him, to satisfy him, just like last season.

It seems obvious that Charles chews annoying frustrations, just observe him in his constant search for a reassuring smile. For himself, for whoever he watches. His resilience is known, enormous. We can bet that today he will be able to chase the gold that animates and agitates him onto the track, in a losing race in any case, barring stumbles by the usual Max.

Always far away, to the point of transforming every effort, perhaps obscured by the stopwatch, into a minimal and disheartening reward. But yeah, whyé Leclerc can do much more, he wants everything. He cultivates a belief for

midable while he warns that just this certainty risks being mistaken for presumption.

It all happened too fast: a precocious, exalted and exalted talent; a mirror-opponent rewarded by technique, by fate; a huge popularity that in one year has turned into enormous pressure. Coming from himself rather than from the audience. Enough to understand and welcome him, hoping he understands and welcomes the impotence that has always tormented many great champions in F1.