Rapid-fire 2020 'mentally tiring' says Leclerc

Charles Leclerc has described last year's rapid-fire calendar of 17 races in 24 weeks as 'mentally tiring'.

Leclerc finished eighth in the drivers' championship in 2020, scoring two podiums and 98 points, a total almost three times that of former championship-winning team-mate Sebastian Vettel.

Due to the emerging Covid-19 pandemic, the season was delayed to July and began with a series of three back-to-back triple-headers with nine races contested across 11 weekends.

Deemed a necessity by Formula 1 given the 'unique circumstances', the format was accepted as a 'one-off'.

"On my side, physically, surely the race after race you feel a bit tired but already from the Monday I was feeling ready to get in the car again," he explained.

"But I think it’s more mentally where race after race you want to achieve better. You are also under a bit of pressure, too, and so mentally it gets tiring at the end of the season to also spend quite a lot of time away from home.

"So yes, on my side it’s more mentally that it is difficult"

The revised calendar for this year, with Australia moving from its position as the season-opener to the third last race, again features a trio of tiple-headers.

While last year, the triple-headers were held at circuits relatively close to each other, the situation is vastly different this time around with the Russia, Singapore and Japan leg, followed by the USA, Mexico, Brazil run each 16,000-mile roundtrips.

Sparing a thought for the mechanics, Leclerc added: "It is maybe more difficult for the mechanics who are coming to the track earlier than we do, and leave the track a lot later than we do.

"So, yes, it was a tiring season."

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