Is Leclerc ready for the F1 crown?

Charles Leclerc is already regarded as a world championship threat, despite having only two seasons in Formula 1. He says "there is still a big margin of improvement" to come with his own driving, but he's shown enough to be regarded as one of the new 'Big Three', along with Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen.

Six-time champion Hamilton's title credentials need no introduction and Verstappen put in the sort of campaign last year that would have been good enough to fight for the championship had Red Bull been more consistently competitive in the first half of the year. But what of Leclerc?

There were some errors in 2019, such as crashing in qualifying in Azerbaijan, and there were days when team-mate Sebastian Vettel had him beaten too, but it's probably fair to say reliability and strategy issues cost him more points. And he still became only the second team-mate, after Daniel Ricciardo at Red Bull in 2014, to outscore Vettel across an F1 season.

There almost certainly is room for improvement, but the signs are that Leclerc is already good enough for a championship challenge.

There's precedent for that too. Hamilton fought for the title in his rookie season in 2007 and took the crown the following year, albeit with a campaign that included some errors. Vettel was in contention in his second full year in F1 and nailed the title the year after that, in 2010. In short, if you're good enough - and the car you find yourself in is fast enough - it doesn't take long.

One of the challenges Verstappen and Leclerc face is the level that Hamilton has now reached. Last year he left very few points on the table, and in 2018, when Ferrari had the faster car for significant portions of the year, his mistake-free, high-level performances meant Hamilton won the drivers' championship by a whopping 88 points.

Like Hamilton, though, Leclerc is self-critical and is always striving to improve. It's an approach that should take him to that sort of level.

"In the races I've still got quite a bit of work to do. Seb has lots of experience and is stronger than me at the moment, so my work this winter is mostly on races" Leclerc on the improvements he can make

"I always analyse my mistakes and what I can do better," said Leclerc at Autosport International last week. "I think my strength is to not make the mistakes again, or to improve the weak points I've got, and there's still a big margin of improvement.

"I'm not hard [on myself], I think I'm just objective, which helps me to get better when I do something wrong."

There was plenty of evidence of that last year, both in terms of improving weaknesses and learning from those around him, particularly the more experienced Vettel. He went from being one of the weakest drivers at stitching his best lap together in qualifying while at Sauber in 2018 to taking more poles than anyone else in 2019.

"After the first three or four races, I saw that my weakness was qualifying so I focused on that and made quite a big improvement from the French Grand Prix [in June] onwards," he said. "In the race, I think I've still got quite a bit of work to do. Seb has lots of experience and is stronger than me at the moment, so my work this winter is mostly on the race.

"It's not only my driving, it's working with the team, the set-ups, trying to maybe sometimes sacrifice a little bit the qualifying [performance] to be a bit stronger in the race. All of these small details make the difference."

This also helps to explain why Leclerc has quite a positive outlook on being team-mates with Vettel again in 2020. That's despite the odd bit of controversy, such as their clash at the Brazilian GP last November.

"He is extremely professional and goes into the details a lot," added Leclerc. "Things I never thought would be helpful to the engineers he is saying. It is very interesting.

"I didn't know what to expect starting the year with Ferrari. It was very intimidating arriving in the team next to Seb. It was a big challenge for me, but I learned a lot from Seb."

Ferrari runs the risk of having Leclerc and Vettel take points off each other, which could allow Hamilton or Verstappen to beat them even if the car is quick, but Leclerc is happy to be pushed by his team-mate. Having Fernando Alonso as his team-mate almost certainly accelerated Hamilton's learning, even if the contest did cost them both the 2007 title.

"It pushes both of us to push our limits and be stronger," said Leclerc of his rivalry with Vettel. "When he is in front of me, I don't like it and I work even harder, and when it's the opposite, it's the same for him.

Leclerc has to be regarded as the latest driver with all the attributes to fight at the very top in 2020, assuming Ferrari holds up its side of the bargain

"We both understand that whatever happens on track we are two competitors and both want to win. Sometimes on track we might have some friction, but we are mature enough to know that off-track we are different people. The most important thing is that we work together to develop the car in the best way possible, and not exceed the limits on track like we've seen in Brazil. I think it was a good lesson for both of us and it won't happen again."

Leclerc now also has long-term stability, having signed a contract with Ferrari that takes him through to the end of the 2024 season.

"It's the first time in my career I've got such a long contract," said the 22-year-old. "It's good to have stability and to know what's going to happen over the next couple of years. Now I'm relaxed and fully focused on my job."

Verstappen is also tied in to Red Bull until the end of 2023, so each of the big teams now seems to have their big star set, assuming Hamilton decides to continue beyond 2020. But Leclerc believes the pool of rivals he'll be battling with for the title in the coming years is rather bigger.

"I don't think it's only us three," he argued. "It's going to be a very exciting time for F1. There are a lot of youngsters coming that I know extremely well and I know how strong they all are. I believe it is going to be very competitive over the next couple of years."

But the more immediate concern is trying to become Ferrari's first F1 world champion since Kimi Raikkonen in 2007 - when Leclerc was just 10 years old.

"I definitely feel more ready than at the beginning of 2019," concluded Leclerc. "I'm hoping that I'll be able to improve it on track."

He has to be regarded as the latest driver with all the right attributes to fight at the very top in 2020. Assuming Ferrari can hold up its side of the bargain.