Formula 1: When will Charles Leclerc earn his first career victory?

Scuderia Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc appears to be on the verge of earning his first career Formula 1 victory. When will he become a race winner?

Before the 2018 Formula 1 season ended, Charles Leclerc signed with Scuderia Ferrari to replace 2007 champion Kimi Raikkonen beginning in the 2019 season. He signed a contract to drive for the Italian team through at least the 2022 season.

Leclerc, who spent the 2018 season, his rookie season, driving for Alfa Romeo Sauber, displayed all kinds of potential in what was the best season by a Sauber driver in many respects in several years.

The 2016 GP3 Series champion and 2017 Formula 2 champion appeared poised to have success in his first season driving for the Prancing Horse, and through the first two races of the 2019 season, he has not disappointed.

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While a fifth place finish was not exactly what the 21-year-old Monegasque wanted in the season opener, the Australian Grand Prix, it was still the first top five finish of his Formula 1 career.

Leclerc’s third place finish in the season’s second race, the Bahrain Grand Prix, was the first podium finish of his career, but he demonstrated that he is capable of far more than simply finishing on the podium, as it took an engine issue with 10 laps remaining in the 57-lap race to prevent him from earning his first career Formula 1 victory by over 10 seconds ahead of Mercedes-AMG Petronas Motorsport’s Lewis Hamilton in second.

With his first career top five finish and his first career podium finish in the books, the next thing on Leclerc’s agenda is earning his first career Formula 1 victory. When will he become a race winner?

With all things considered, don’t expect the first-year Ferrari driver to remain winless for much longer, perhaps not even into the month of May. The next two races on the schedule, the Chinese Grand Prix and the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, are scheduled to take place at tracks were Ferrari, although they did not win either one of these races last year, were the team to beat in the 2018 season.

Ferrari’s Sebastian Vettel started from the pole position and dominated both of these races, but alternating pit strategies ended up preventing him from maintaining the lead late in both of them.

Additionally, the 31-year-old German was hit by Aston Martin Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen late in the Chinese Grand Prix, relegating him to an eighth place finish, and he tried to make a way too aggressive pass for the lead on Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas late in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, which resulted in him having to settle for a fourth place finish.

It is no secret that while Mercedes recorded their third consecutive 1-2 finish, including their second in two races to open up the 2019 season, in the Bahrain Grand Prix, Ferrari were the team to beat in that race, largely due to their superior straight-line speed. In the Chinese Grand Prix and the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, they should have an advantage over the Silver Arrows primarily due to this straight-line speed.

In terms of the teammate battle within Ferrari, Leclerc has shown through the season’s first two races that he is faster than Vettel. There is no way to avoid this realization.

Team orders restricted Leclerc from passing the four-time champion in the season opener, and shortly after he relinquished the lead from the pole position at the start of the season’s second race to his teammate, he chased him down and defied team orders to pass him for the lead before going on to dominate the race as Vettel fell farther and farther behind.

Let’s also not forget last year’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix in particular. This race was only Leclerc’s fourth career Formula 1 race, and after entering it with a career-high finish of 12th place, he finished it in sixth after no Sauber drivers had finished any race in the top six in their last 94 combined races going back to the 2015 season.

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When will Charles Leclerc earn the first victory of his Formula 1 career? All signs point to this happening sooner rather than later, so be sure not to miss either of April’s two races, the Chinese Grand Prix and the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. These two races are scheduled to take place on Sunday, April 14 and Sunday, April 28, respectively.

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