Formula 1: Signing Charles Leclerc was Ferrari’s best option

Ferrari signed Alfa Romeo Sauber rookie Charles Leclerc to replace 2007 Formula 1 champion Kimi Raikkonen. Here’s why this was their best option.

Coming into the 2018 Formula 1 season and several races into it, it was widely believed that Alfa Romeo Sauber rookie Charles Leclerc would replace 2007 Formula 1 champion Kimi Raikkonen as the teammate to four-time Formula 1 champion Sebastian Vettel at Scuderia Ferrari beginning in the 2019 Formula season.

In fact, about a week and a half after the Canadian Grand Prix in June, it was revealed that Ferrari were ready to replace Raikkonen with Leclerc next season, and roughly a week after that, it was revealed that Ferrari and Leclerc had reached an agreement that the 20-year-old Monegasque had not signed.

But in the five races after that, Raikkonen racked up five consecutive podium finishes, something he had not done since his championship season in 2007, and Sergio Marchionne, the former Ferrari CEO who was a big fan of Leclerc and wanted to get him a seat with the Maranello-based team as soon as possible, passed away suddenly.

As a result of Marchionne’s death, Ferrari initially rethought their driver strategy, and it was revealed that Raikkonen would likely sign a two-year contract extension to remain with the team.

This was the case because effectively wanted to keep Vettel and Raikkonen together because of their relationships on and off the track as well as the fact that Raikkonen is a great teammate to Vettel as far as playing a “support role” goes.

In fact, Raikkonen has not won a race since he returned to Ferrari in the 2014 season (he also drove for the team from the 2007 season through the 2009 season). His most recent victory came when he won the 2013 Australian Grand Prix in his second and final season driving for Lotus.

But Ferrari ultimately made the decision to honor Marchionne’s plan and sign Leclerc as Raikkonen’s replacement for the 2019 season despite the fact that new CEO Louis Camilleri would have preferred to re-sign Raikkonen.

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While many Formula 1 fans believe that Ferrari signed Leclerc prematurely and that they would have been better off re-signing Raikkonen, Ferrari made the right move. Here is why.

While the idea of Raikkonen playing a “support role” to Vettel, which is exactly what he has done since Vettel arrived at the team in the 2015 season, sounds good on the surface as far as Vettel’s chances to win his fifth career Formula 1 championship go, it hasn’t worked in the past. It likely wouldn’t work in the future, either.

Ferrari and Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport have been pretty much even over the course of the last two seasons, yet while Ferrari seem to be the team that have made more improvements and thus have the slight upper hand over the Silver Arrows, Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton, another four-time Formula 1 champion, is still the championship favorite and defending Formula 1 champion.

Last season, Hamilton trailed Vettel by 14 points (202 to 188) in the driver standings during the summer break, yet this season, despite the fact that Ferrari have improved more so than Mercedes have, he led him by 24 points (213 to 189) in the driver standings during the summer break. Last season, Hamilton went on to win the championship by 46 points (363 to 317) over Vettel in second place.

Vettel has not finished higher than Hamilton in the driver standings since leaving Red Bull Racing for Ferrari in the 2015 season, and Raikkonen, while he has helped Vettel get a few extra points here and there, has had no true effect on Vettel’s chances to beat Hamilton.

The only thing that can improve Vettel’s chances of beating Hamilton is Vettel, not Raikkonen. Vettel has failed to capitalize on several opportunities this season, and that has cost him. Raikkonen would not change that, as evidenced by the fact that even when Vettel hasn’t failed to capitalize on opportunities, Hamilton has still beaten him more times than not.

Instead of signing Raikkonen to continue doing what he is doing in the hopes that it will somehow force Vettel to take advantage of the improvements that Ferrari have made, Ferrari made the right move by signing the Ferrari junior driver.

Signing a hot young prospect like Leclerc will likely make Vettel better, whereas keeping him with a teammate who hasn’t won a race in more than five years would not do so. Despite the recent claims of 1997 Formula 1 champion Jacques Villeneuve that Vettel would try to “eat Leclerc alive”, the 2016 GP3 Series champion and 2017 Formula 2 champion can be a championship contender right out of the gate, and he can potentially push Vettel to improve as well.

This signing is a win-win, and Ferrari now effectively have two legitimate championship contenders instead of one whose championship chances have been consistently overshadowed by Hamilton’s.

By signing Leclerc as opposed to re-signing Raikkonen to yet another contract extension, Ferrari opted not to commit to just one championship contender, thus putting their one previous championship contender in a different position than the one he has been in over the last few seasons, the one that netted him zero championships and very well would have continued to do so on a yearly basis even if the team continued to improve.

Do you believe that Ferrari made the right move by signing Charles Leclerc for the 2019 Formula 1 season as opposed to re-signing veteran Kimi Raikkonen?