Why Leclerc took a year to learn how Ferrari worked

Charles Leclerc has explained he "has a lot of things to learn" when joining Ferrari in 2019.

After an impressive rookie season at Sauber, Leclerc was promoted to the Scuderia and made an almost instant impact, winning two races in Belgium and Italy.

His form has improved with consistently strong performances over the past season and a half despite Ferrari's lack of competitiveness, with two shock pole positions this year in Monaco and Azerbaijan.

Even with his fast start in 2019, Leclerc revealed on the Beyond the Grid podcast that he took some time to acclimatise to how the most decorated constructor in F1 history works.

"I was comfortable from the beginning," he said.

"I had a lot of things to learn, but it felt like I’d known them straight away – on the social relationships. Then to feel comfortable in the way such a big team works? Probably nearly a year I will say.

"Nearly a year to understand exactly the dynamics of the team, how you face issues, how you react to those problems. Yes, probably almost a year.

"It is a long time. Yes, yes, it is a very, very long time but it’s very, very interesting.

"To live it feels a lot shorter and you can feel all the steps and every time you are learning something and you apply it you are just getting a better understanding of how everything works.

"Also, you feel more in control of the situation."

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