10 reasons Ferrari has signed Leclerc

Even Ferrari could not resist the Charles Leclerc juggernaut in the end. Ferrari will buck its own trend next season by fielding the rising star alongside Sebastian Vettel, finally dismissing Kimi Raikkonen from its Formula 1 driver line-up to make room for one of grand prix racing's brightest talents.

Leclerc is a GP3 and Formula 2 champion so his potential was obvious heading into his rookie F1 season, but still his graduation to Ferrari has come quicker than anybody expected. These are the factors that convinced Ferrari that gambling on a young driver is not really gambling at all.

1. He has searing speed

Producing the goods over one lap in F1 is absolutely crucial. Especially when you consider how difficult it is to overtake in this era of ultra-aerodynamically-sensitive grand prix cars.

Leclerc has made that transition superbly. He made a couple of mistakes in qualifying at the first two rounds but since then he has only been outqualified by team-mate Marcus Ericsson once, which means he is smashing a much more experienced driver 11-3 for the season.

During a particular mid-season purple patch Leclerc reached Q3 three times in four races, qualifying eighth in France, ninth in Britain and ninth in Germany. Ericsson brought up the tail end of the Q2 runners each time in that spell.

One of Raikkonen's great weaknesses in his second Ferrari stint has been underperforming under pressure in qualifying. In Leclerc, Ferrari is getting a clear one-lap upgrade.

2. He has superb racecraft

The opening lap of a grand prix is a ballet in a warzone. Despite finding himself 'out of position' at times because of his strong qualifying performances, Leclerc has handled such a volatile environment with aplomb.

In Azerbaijan, Leclerc set up his first points finish in F1 by climbing from 13th to 10th on a chaotic opening lap, then mugged the Toro Rosso of Pierre Gasly and Williams of Lance Stroll after the restart as he rose to seventh.

At the next race, in Spain, 14th became ninth as he again threaded the needle of a first-lap accident. After qualifying ninth for the British GP, he avoided the clashing Haases to end the opening lap at Silverstone seventh.

From Leclerc's lowest point of the season has come an almost unrelenting run of new peaks

It is no coincidence that Leclerc escapes such major incidents. He was pincered in Hungary after starting in the midfield, and he was an innocent victim in that horrible first-corner crash in Belgium. But when other drivers do not cannon into him, Leclerc looks a man in complete control of his actions.

What Leclerc does when he finds himself in good positions is equally impressive. Back-to-back races against Fernando Alonso are two of the best examples.

His defence of sixth place from Alonso in Azerbaijan was unbreakable and Leclerc was impeccable at the next race in Spain, until the vastly experienced two-time world champion passed the rookie at a virtual safety car restart by taking advantage of the Sauber's tendency to take time to warm up its tyres.

3. He has a crucial race-winning trait

Tiny margins decide the outcome of every grand prix. It comes down to opportunism: the best drivers take what is available to them on a regular basis, and Leclerc's produced plenty of those moments this season.

The British GP is a good example. Leclerc was clear of Esteban Ocon in eighth and just over a second behind Nico Hulkenberg when he dived into the pits. For a driver of Leclerc's quality, that should have been enough to undercut the Renault, and win the 'Class B' fight, but a loose wheel forced his retirement.

The likelihood that Leclerc would have been successful hints at the ability to win at the front as such a strategy is a crucial way of winning races. And there are other examples that where there is a scalp to be had, Leclerc's taken it.

Sauber is slower than all bar Williams if you look at every team's outright fastest lap from each grand prix weekend. If you only compare drivers, Leclerc's also ahead of a McLaren, a Toro Rosso and his team-mate Ericsson.

His ability to put a marginal Q2 car consistently in the top 15 and occasionally in the top 10, and turn that into points, is the mark of a driver extracting everything from his machinery.

4. He can handle the pressure

Driving for Ferrari is arguably F1's most daunting challenge. Leclerc will feel more burden than most given he is a product of its young-driver programme - and will be the first graduate of it to race for the team - and will be the second-youngest driver in Ferrari's F1 history.

Leclerc's obvious qualities mean the decision is not exactly a gamble, but it marks a big departure from Ferrari's usual policy and that brings its own pressure to perform. Two pivotal moments in Leclerc's season suggest he can handle that.

First, after the Chinese GP, Leclerc was kicking himself. He was his own harshest critic, deriding his start to the season and admitting he was struggling to adapt to F1.

He regrouped, worked with Sauber to alter the set-up on his car, made it into Q2 next time out in Azerbaijan and finished sixth. From his lowest point of the season has come an almost unrelenting run of new peaks.

Another high-pressure moment was the French GP, where talk of Leclerc moving to Ferrari in 2019 seriously emerged for the first time. He responded by giving Sauber its first Q3 appearance in years and finishing in the points again, then in Austria a week later he recovered from a first-lap trip through the gravel to net another top-10 finish.

5. He is constantly improving

Part of what made such an impressive turnaround possible for Leclerc is his unrelenting desire to improve. He is a smart, dedicated young man who looks inward for problems and outward for answers.

Do not underestimate the value of that approach. Leclerc can sometimes be too honest and maybe too harsh in how he considers his own mistakes. But his ability to recognise when he is not performing, or could do something better, is a powerful one.

You only need to look at how badly Max Verstappen reacts to errors, and the criticism his mistakes trigger, to realise how violent and negative a reaction can be. There is little evidence to suggest Leclerc would ever end up threatening, jokingly or otherwise, to hit someone for questioning his driving.

Leclerc has actually been very willing to discuss that. Earlier this year he talked about needing to calm down his driving, then he acknowledged he needed to adapt his style. Then it was being willing to learn from his team-mate's set-up, and then it was about working out how to get the most out of each qualifying segment as he experienced Q2 and then Q3 for the first time.

There has been zero relent in Leclerc's push to improve. That is why he has developed so quickly in F1 and is a key part of why Ferrari will be so confident he can adapt and thrive in its team next season.

6. He is beating a career-killer

Leclerc is on a bit of a barren run at the moment, having failed to score in the last five grands prix. But he cannot be blamed for the pitstop blunder at Silverstone, Sauber misjudged the rain at Hockenheim, he was eliminated on the opening lap at the Hungaroring and Spa and Sauber's low-downforce package at Monza was not good enough to fight for points.

Despite that run, Leclerc is beating team-mate Ericsson - 28-years-old and a starter of 90 grands prix - by 13 points to six. It is the rookie, not the veteran, who is making the difference in Sauber's fight not to be last in the championship. And Leclerc's 2018 haul so far is only two shy of Ericsson's career total.

It would be too easy to dismiss Ericsson as a credible opponent for Leclerc. After all, the Swede performed strongly against Mercedes junior Pascal Wehrlein last season, and Felipe Nasr before that.

Ericsson should be given due credit for defeating them - both have exited F1 since partnering him at Sauber - and by extension, Leclerc should be judged fairly against Ericsson.

Leclerc has not gone up against a top-line driver, but he has gone up against a good one and is beating him emphatically.

7. He is adaptable

There have been some murmurings this year that Leclerc is not a particularly good wet-weather driver, with the main evidence presented for this argument being his struggles in the rain-hit German GP. He had an off on intermediates as well as his 360-degree spin on slicks.

But he wasn't helped by Sauber wrongly putting him on inters when the track was still dry, which meant his tyres took a beating before the rain really fell.

Earlier that weekend he was four-tenths faster than Ericsson in a wet final practice. He did get dumped out of the damp-but-drying Q1 in Hungary as Ericsson progressed but that session was a lottery.

To rule out Leclerc's ability in wet conditions is to miss another of his key strengths: his adaptability. He excelled in F2 in wet and changeable conditions, and showed the trait in a different form in F1 by jumping between Sauber and Ferrari machinery last season.

He has also excelled everywhere this year - from street tracks to high-speed circuits to places he's never been before - and at races where Sauber has been less competitive, like at Monza.

That is another feather in his cap, especially when you consider Raikkonen's tendency to have off-weekends - particularly if he's not thrilled with his car's balance.

8. He is good PR for Ferrari and F1

Leclerc's promotion is a superb story for Ferrari and F1. He's an exciting young talent, a Ferrari protege and friend of the late Jules Bianchi, who was Ferrari's previous 'next big thing' before his death following his 2014 Japanese GP accident.

Aside from the immediate hit F1 and Ferrari will get from this news, Leclerc will offer much better genuine PR potential than Raikkonen on a regular basis.

Raikkonen may be a safe option, but his record is simply not good enough

Raikkonen's enduring popularity despite being something approaching a nightmare with the media is a curious anomaly in F1. He has obtained an odd cult-hero status in F1, but Leclerc offers something tangible.

As well as being a young, exciting talent and a good-looking chap - which the marketing people at Ferrari and its affiliates will no doubt exploit - Leclerc is a personable, open individual who will not be as closed off as Raikkonen or even his 2019 team-mate Sebastian Vettel.

Leclerc is happy to speak and usually has something insightful to say. Ferrari may try to rein him in a bit, given its recent policy has been to minimise media exposure, but that is a daft strategy.

Leclerc is the perfect opportunity for Ferrari to change that and re-engage with F1 and its fans properly.

9. He is not Raikkonen

Given its history, Ferrari would probably have been quite happy to park Leclerc at Sauber for another year, or maybe try to slot him into its other customer team Haas, if it had a better driver alongside Vettel.

Raikkonen has had strong peaks this season and he is third in the drivers' championship, ahead of Valtteri Bottas, so this is comfortably his best campaign since rejoining Ferrari in 2014.

But that bar was not set very high. He has trailed team-mates by more than 100 points in three of the last four years and is still yet to win a race in this Ferrari spell.

Raikkonen may be a safe option to Ferrari chiefs given his status as a world champion, but his record is simply not good enough to occupy a place at the top table. Especially when Ferrari wants to fight for titles.

Sporadic bursts in form, like five podiums in a row before the summer break, are encouraging but ultimately futile if not sustained.

Ferrari's patience with Raikkonen appears to have finally worn out. Without that, Leclerc may well not be looking at such a swift promotion.

10. He is the future of Ferrari

You might not consider Ferrari to not be particularly cost-aware, but Leclerc is obviously a cheaper option than Raikkonen and represents better long-term value.

Ferrari could probably draft in any driver on the grid, but a proven race winner would come at a greater cost. Bringing in Leclerc reduces the complexity of that decision significantly, especially as it allows Vettel to still feel like the top dog in the short-term so that boat is not rocked as severely as it could be.

More significant is what Ferrari gets for its money. Raikkonen is a more expensive, fading star who may have one more season at his current level - which may not be good enough anyway. Leclerc is cheaper, a world champion in the making and has 15 years (or more) ahead of him in F1.

Ferrari has prided itself on driver loyalty and holds stability in the highest possible regard. Bringing in Leclerc to partner Vettel gives it a driver line-up it should have no reason to change for the next few years, and locks down its probable team leader to the end of the next decade.