Charles Leclerc: I will take risks to beat Lewis Hamilton in shortened season

Formula 1

Leclerc: I will take risks to beat Lewis Hamilton in shortened season

Charles Leclerc ready to go extra mile to end Ferrari's long wait for a drivers' champion

Ian Parkes

Friday 24 April 2020 17:00

Charles Leclerc has revealed he is ready to take risks in order to beat Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton in a shortened Formula 1 world title race.

With F1 in limbo, there is uncertainty surrounding when the season will start and how many races it will ultimately entail, despite the hoped-for plan of holding grands prix behind closed doors.

Should it boil down to no more than eight to 10 events, Leclerc feels a different strategy will need to be adopted by him and Ferrari if he is to become the team's first world champion for 13 years.

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Asked as to whether there could be a surprise and fair title winner in such a campaign, Leclerc replied: "Yes, probably.

"Obviously having fewer races people will want to take a bit more risk, so yes we might have some surprises, and it might be quite exciting to watch.

"If it means that it will be me, then I will be very happy but it's difficult to predict. Mercedes and Lewis will still be the favourites, even if it's an eight-race championship.

"It's going to be very difficult to beat them so I will probably risk a bit more on track, with risky strategies, risky overtakes, and maybe it will pay off, maybe it will not."

Leclerc, though, recognises that following testing during which Ferrari was clearly off the pace compared to Mercedes and Red Bull, it would be a tall order to claim the titles.

With all the teams unable to work on their cars during the current enforced shutdown, Leclerc is aware the scenario from testing will not change in any first race

"We still haven't done the first qualifying, so we are still left with the thoughts we had during testing, and testing was not easy, to be completely honest," assessed Leclerc.

"I don't think this whole situation will make a big change in the standing that we saw after testing, so for now, we are not favourites, and we know it. We will have to wait and see."