Capetown: Monacan driver Charles Leclerc, who will be joining Formula One team Ferrari at the end of the ongoing season, has insisted that he is not moving to the team to learn but to challenge.
The 20-year-old, however, added that there is a lot to improve but his focus would be on performing after joining the leading F 1 team.
“I need to deliver – I’m not going to Ferrari to learn. I’ve had a very good season this year where I could learn most of it and next year is to perform where I should be once you are going in a big team,” Sport24 quoted Leclerc, as saying.
“I’m not saying I will not learn anything anymore, as I have so much to learn still and I can still improve a lot, but I will be a lot more ready than I was at the beginning.”
Reflecting on his position in Ferrari, Leclerc hoped that the team would allow him to race German driver Sebastian Vettel.
“It’s more or less like this in every team. You have two drivers who start the season on equal status and then at one point in the season, you see some team orders because probably one driver is playing for the championship and the other is not. This is normal, in every team it’s happening. But I believe they will let us race at the beginning of the season,” Leclerc said.
“Experience is always a plus obviously, but if you are good enough on one seat, you are good enough [for a top seat] from the first year you arrive in Formula 1. And if next year I don’t have the results good enough to stay in Ferrari, then it would be normal that I downgrade, but then I don’t deserve a Ferrari seat. This is how I see things,” he added.
Ferrari had replaced Kimi Raikkonen with Monacan driver Charles Leclerc after former announced that he would leave the team at the end of the ongoing season.
Leclerc has become the youngest driver after late Ricardo Rodriguez to compete for Ferrari.
[source_without_link]ANI[/source_without_link]