Yas Marina (United Arab Emirates) (AFP)
While he can still finish on the podium of the F1 World Championship, Charles Leclerc returns for AFP on the highlights of his first season with Ferrari, the second in the category, on the eve of the last Grand Prix in Abu Dhabi.
The 22-year-old Monegasque, who is eleven points behind current third Max Verstappen (Red Bull), says he has had "the best week of (his) life", that of his victory at the Italian Grand Prix.
. His first appearance in red at the launch of the season (February 15)
"It was a dream come true, I believe that any driver, from F1 or not, dreams of Ferrari and that was my case too, to be there in my suit and finally to know that I was going to drive one of the two Ferraris, it was a special feeling. (To be part of the Scuderia) it's really fantastic! Ferrari is a myth, it's probably the best in what they do (...) and I'm very happy to be part of it. "
. His first GP in Australia (March 17)
"There was so much going on and everything was so new! (...) Everything was huge, I was very impressed by the means Ferrari has and the level of professionalism of the team. to learn but it was a good experience. "
. The first of seven pole positions in Bahrain (March 30)
"I did not expect it to happen so early in the season, it was only my second race and the first one was quite complicated, but the second went extremely well, especially the qualifying, so it was was a good surprise! (Losing the race because of an engine problem) was frustrating but, in the end, it was part of the car sport, I quickly understood the situation and I went ahead. The team gave me a lot of support after the race and did an incredible job all weekend, it was just unfortunate.In the car race, there are things that happen to you that you can not control. "
. The first of his two victories in Belgium (September 1st)
"It was a strange weekend because Saturday (the day before) was an extremely sad day with the death of one of my friends (the French driver F2 Anthoine Hubert) in an accident on the circuit of Spa It was a bittersweet moment, but it's still my first F1 victory I've been dreaming of since I started karting, you still dream of winning in F1 and it happened that day. It was probably not the best weekend to win there because of what had happened but it's still a special moment anyway. "
. His second win in Italy, the first home for Scuderia since Fernando Alonso's 2010 (8 September)
"It was crazy, probably the best week of my life! It's very difficult to put words on what I felt on the podium with hundreds, thousands of people below me shouting my name Ferrari was really, really exceptional, there was a lot of pressure that week because the whole country was behind us and was counting on us to win, it was complicated but I managed to keep the pressure behind. me to concentrate on what I had to do and I am very happy to have offered this success to the team first, but also to the whole country that supported us. "
Interview by Raphaëlle PELTIER at an event organized by the Ferrari partner Hublot.
© 2019 AFP