He was in Ferrari with Prost and Mansell: now he’s stern with Charles Leclerc
The judgment comes from someone who knows Maranello well, and it is harsh.
Ferrari without someone to lead it out of trouble, and Charles Leclerc fast and good, but without the makings of a leader. This is the very blunt assessment given on the current state of the Cavallino by a driver who has been around Maranello and Fiorano for many years. He is Gianni Morbidelli, test driver in the years of Nigel Mansell and Alain Prost and the one who also took the latter’s place after the famous dismissal at the end of 1991.
Interviewed by AutoMoto.it, Morbidelli spoke clearly about Ferrari’s problems: “I see a team without a rudder and a helmsman to take it out of the shallows. It’s not easy because Ferrari is a difficult entity for those on the outside to understand. It is not so easy to say take this, move that, do that other. You have everyone’s eyes on you and that is bad. Then about the drivers little to say. They are two good guys, fast, among the fastest I would say. Leclerc has that extra something in qualifying that makes the difference.”
Just about the latter, however, there is an important clarification from Morbidelli: “For me beyond the skill, which I don’t dispute and indeed I must say I like both of them, Leclerc lacks personality, cue. He has to be a leader but after five seasons he is still there arguing with the engineers, he doesn’t know whether to stay out or change tires, he complains over the radio about his teammate if he overtakes him, if he makes different strategies.”
“A leader those things he overcomes, he doesn’t give a damn. Does Sainz pass you? Who cares, think about your own, about the race. It’s you in the car, you have to be the one to tell the pit box the track conditions, if you feel like staying out or you have to come back in. And then you have to be a team player. Here, all these things Schumacher had, Prost had them too but he was on a collision course with Fiorio. So, I promote Leclerc on driving and speed with a lot of talent, on the rest there is still a lot to do to get to the top,” Morbidelli added.
Finally, the driver from Pesaro had his say on Leclerc’s future, calming those who fear he may leave Maranello in the future. “But where do you want him to go? Here the contracts are annual, of teams that win less and less and moreover full for the future, he can only stay there and win with Ferrari,” Morbidelli assured.
