Leclerc is 'definitely' a future champion

Formula One rookie Charles Leclerc "definitely" has the potential and talent to be a future world champion, according to experienced engineer and current Alfa Romeo-Sauber employee Xevi Pujolar, who reckons the sky is the limit for the 20-year-old Monegasque Ferrari apprentice.

Leclerc is the current F2 champion and has previously acted in a test driver capacity for Ferrari, Haas, and Sauber, before being given a seat for the 2018 season by the latter.

He is viewed as one of the most talented young drivers on the circuit, and Pujolar thinks he is a world champion in the making.

"He is a potential champion. Definitely," he told El Mundo Deportivo newspaper

"The way he is very demanding with himself, I've seen in other drivers like him.

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"He does everything to the maximum and until he does he's not happy. And he wants the same from those around him. They're the kind of people who ultimately win because they're always looking for their limits.

"He has many things I have seen in other great drivers, but I prefer not to compare. What I can say is that if the car improves he would do great results."

When quizzed by the newspaper as to whether Leclerc would immediately compete at the front of the grid if given a top car, Pujolar responded emphatically.

"Yes," the Sauber engineer suggested.

"Ok, at some of the first races he made mistakes, but that's normal. You arrive from Formula 2 where you've won everything and find that everyone is a champion.

"So at the beginning it's a shock. You think 'How is that driver as fast as me?' But once this type of driver knows how to regulate their potential, everything starts to happen.

"Sauber is the best place he could have started in F1."