Schumacher comparison unsettles Leclerc

Charles Leclerc says comparisons with Michael Schumacher have arrived too early in his young career.

Leclerc has impressed in his debut season with the Scuderia, outscoring world champion team-mate Sebastian Vettel through 15 races and scoring successive pole positions in Belgium, Italy and Singapore, winning the races at Spa-Francorchamps and Monza.

FIA president Jean Todt and F1 technical director Ross Brawn – both key figures in Schumacher's dominant early-2000s run with Ferrari – have compared Leclerc to the seven-time world champion recently.

Todt remarked that Leclerc had shown similar leadership qualities to the German this year, while Brawn said of the 21-year-old's Monza win: "As was the case in Belgium, the team did a very good job. The overall package might be slightly inferior to that of Mercedes, but Ferrari made the most of what it had. The last Ferrari man to do that in these two races was Michael in 1996. Maybe history is beginning to repeat itself."

Although understandably delighted to see his performances compared with Schumacher, he is keen to dampen expectations for now.

"It's always very nice to hear these type of things. But I'm only 21, I haven't proved anything compared to what Michael has," Leclerc is quoted by Racefans.

"So for now it's way too far to speak about these things I'm working on my career, trying to have the best career possible on my side.

"But obviously to be compared with this one, with these people it's always an honour but it seems very far to me."

Schumacher scored four pole positions and three race wins in his debut season for Ferrari, then a distant second to Williams, with Leclerc one behind on both measures as the Scuderia struggle to keep pace with Mercedes in 2019.

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