The 'special one' in Ferrari's ranks

The first half of the 2017 Formula 2 season has been dominated by one particular story: the performance of Prema Racing's Charles Leclerc.

The 19-year-old has claimed five wins, 188 points, and six consecutive pole positions. The final statistic equals the record established by Stoffel Vandoorne in the category formerly known as GP2.

Leclerc is no stranger to success. He was the CIK-FIA Academy Trophy karting champion in 2011, a race winner in Formula Renault 2.0 ALPS and European Formula 3 in '14 and '15, and he clinched the GP3 title last year.

In 2016 he joined the Ferrari Driver Academy and tested for the Scuderia at Silverstone in addition to four FP1 appearances he made for Haas. He'll share driving duties in the SF70H at the post Hungarian Grand Prix test with Kimi Raikkonen early next month.

But although his step up to F2 led to some expectation, the level of success he has enjoyed so far in his rookie campaign in a series without a first-time winner since Nico Hulkenberg in 2009, is surprising. This is because the fragile nature of the F2 Pirelli rubber traditionally takes some getting used - Vandoorne himself had to learn its foibles before he dominated the category on his way to the '15 title as a second-year driver.

"It couldn't have gone better and we didn't wish for any better," Leclerc says. "I mean from the first practice this year it has been an amazing season."

At the first round in Bahrain, Leclerc claimed pole before struggling with tyre degradation in the feature race and ended up third behind GP2 veterans Artem Markelov and Norman Nato, but used an unusual strategy in the sprint event, which does not require pitstops, to charge to his first victory. It had all the hallmarks of the classic GP2/F2 rookie learning process - rapid pace with tyre management struggles preventing a win in the longer race.

But since then, he has won four out of the five following feature contests, with a poorly timed safety car and then suspension failure costing him a home win in Monaco.

"I worked on myself for the degradation and I still do work on the degradation," he explains when asked what he focused on between the first two rounds. "I don't think we're on top of this at the moment on my side, not on the car side. We're quite good but we could do better."

That desire to constantly improve has impressed his Prema team, which is clearly delighted with Leclerc as both a driver and an individual.

"He's a pearl," says Angelina Ertsou, Prema's press officer. "He has it all."

"He's a very good team player, and he knows what he wants," adds Prema team boss, Rene Rosin. "He knows how to deal with other people - he's really focused. I'd say he's one of the special ones that we've seen so far."

Rosin explains that even when things are going well for Leclerc, he wants to know where he can improve: "After each race he comes back to me and asks 'what do you think?' I say, 'Charles, you just led,' like in Baku. 'Pole, fastest lap, win - what do you want me to say?' '[But] what do you think - can I still improve?' he says. He's always trying to reach the next limit and that's something really incredible."

Leclerc's rapid start to the 2017 season has netted him a 67-point lead over Markelov, with his former driver coach Oliver Rowland four points further back in third. But the Monegasque racer, who has a list of F2 targets and records printed out by Prema in his room in the team's truck to aim for, is not comfortable resting on his current advantage.

"If I do have a really bad end of the season then the amazing start will be forgotten," he says. "So I need to focus on my job and try to work as hard as possible to keep the top spot."

Ominous stuff if his rivals were hoping he'd take his foot off the gas heading into the summer break, which gets under way after the upcoming Hungarian round.

That continual focus on improvement - a drive shared by many of the most successful sportspeople - is a sign of Leclerc's mental strength, which was epitomised by the tragic events his family went through just days before the racing in Baku got underway last month.

Three days before qualifying, Leclerc's father Herve - a former Formula 3 racer - passed away. Leclerc not only took pole and the feature race win, which he dedicated to his father, but he won the sprint race on the road before dropping back to second when a 10-second penalty he had picked up for setting a personal best sector after passing yellow flags was applied.

"Everybody was impressed with how he handled that, especially at his young age," says Leclerc's former boss, ART Grand Prix team manager, Sebastien Philippe. "It's never easy to lose your dad, especially when you are young. This shows how strong he is now - he has been able to put that on the side during the race weekend to focus on his job."

Rosin was also impressed by how Leclerc was able to put his family's loss aside temporarily to get the job done behind the wheel.

"For me he is very strong mentally," he says. "He knows what he wants and he knows how to get it, in the short-term and in the long-term. That is one of his big strengths."

Leclerc is determined to stay focused on his F2 charge, despite the questions it raises about a future F1 drive. Does he think about being on the F1 grid in 2018?

"Saying no would be lying but I try to think about it as little as possible," he says in a refreshingly honest way in an age when many up-and-coming drivers understandably fall back on their media training.

To help that focus, he requested that if further F1 practice outings were to be on his schedule for 2018 that they not take place during the middle of the F2 season.

"We could have managed it a bit better last year because to do F1 and GP3 in the same weekend disadvantaged me quite a bit," he says. "Because the two cars are completely different and to go back from F1 to GP3 was very hard."

But Phillippe, whose ART squad ran Leclerc to the 2016 GP3 title, says that despite the difficulties he had switching around on a single weekend, he dealt with the demands.

"It's difficult to spilt your mind in two different ways - also when you have the pressure from F1 because it's important to deliver to show what you are able [to do]," he explains. "To have the focus, to have the good place at the good time is not easy and when you do two things in the same time it doesn't help. But he did it well."

Looking ahead, Leclerc's F2 success and upcoming Ferrari test lead to inevitable speculation about an F1 graduation next year. He says that he trusts his management and the FDA "200%" when it comes to finding opportunities for him.

Ferrari partner Haas is keeping its current line-up, while an opportunity at Sauber could depend on whether its proposed Honda engine deal goes through. A move to the Scuderia - a very unlikely scenario given its traditionally conservative approach to driver signings - shouldn't be totally ruled out too.

His naturally aggressive style - "I love to attack" - was evidenced by his Bahrain win and Phillippe believes he suits more powerful machinery, which he would find in F1.

"He's always on a big attack and I think this F2 car suits him even better," he says. "The more power there is the better he will be. With a lot of power and a bigger downforce car - he can use it even better."

Leclerc has made some mistakes this year, particularly his botched pass on Nato in the Monaco sprint race, but he is usually very calm behind the wheel.

In the Silverstone feature race, a small oil leak caused plumes of smoke to come out of the rear of his car. Rosin had "a bit of a panic" on his behalf, but Leclerc "just carried on" undeterred in a race where his brakes caught fire on the formation lap and a wing mirror fell off.

"He's really one that should be soon in F1," says Rosin, "he has to be there."

The last two GP2 champions to make the step up to a crowded F1 grid (Vandoorne and Jolyon Palmer) did not do so immediately, but if Leclerc does move on, to wherever that may be, his success so far suggests he has what it takes to flourish.