How "useless" Leclerc exposed a champion's trait

When Charles Leclerc lambasted himself for ploughing his Ferrari into the barrier on the entry to the Baku circuit's castle section last Saturday, costing himself a likely Azerbaijan Grand Prix pole and probable first Formula 1 victory, it was a reminder that even the most extraordinary talents are human.

In that moment, it became clear that the 21-year-old prodigy, tipped as Ferrari's saviour in its decade-long title drought, was no Messiah. Just a very frustrated boy.

But anybody interpreting Leclerc's error as proof he has been rushed into Ferrari too soon, or his outburst that followed as signs of an emotionally-charged young man who needs to gain better self-control, needs to gain some perspective.

It was a costly mistake but nobody knew that more than Leclerc. He is no god. Just an exceptionally fast racing driver with the potential to be world champion, the need to improve if he's going to achieve it - and possessing a key trait that should help him do exactly that.

One year ago, Baku was the making of Leclerc in F1. He arrived in Azerbaijan with something to prove after a mixed start to his rookie season. As was documented then, Leclerc had been making all the right mistakes, was learning all the right lessons, and sooner or later that was going to manifest itself in something big. He duly made it into Q2 in Baku and scored his first points in F1 with a stunning sixth place.

The situation is reversed in 2019. This time, Baku exposed Leclerc as a man angry at himself for an unacceptable error. Leclerc was magnificent around the streets of Baku in '18. He was "useless", in his own words, 12 months later.

Leclerc is unfairly harsh in his self-appraisals. While the mistake was avoidable, part of the cause was Ferrari's decision to send him and Sebastian Vettel out on medium tyres. The team's alternate strategy put more pressure on its drivers to produce a lap time while simultaneously giving them less performance to do so. It was a recipe for error.

Unlike in Bahrain, where Vettel spun during combat with Lewis Hamilton, this time it was Leclerc who cracked under a burden. It is no surprise to see a driver who is still inexperienced making mistakes. Yes, Leclerc should have executed greater caution in the circumstances, but Vettel hit the wall as well with his own misjudgement on the mediums and got away with it.

The margins were extremely fine and the consequences of being on the wrong side were costly, as Leclerc waved goodbye to his chances of a first F1 victory and contributed to the "double whammy" that played a role in denying Vettel a win as well.

"I'm always trying to improve everything. I'm trying to stay as calm as possible in difficult situations" Charles Leclerc

The aggressive way Leclerc verbally flayed himself afterwards could be interpreted as someone struggling to process that aftermath. Just like calling himself "stupid" after qualifying fourth instead of third in China.

But how should he react? And why should this be automatically associated with a negative? Leclerc, like all elite sportspeople, is exceptionally strong mentally. It is an area he has invested serious time in improving, after identifying it as a weakness during his karting days. He still tests himself in Italy.

"The mental side is worked on as a full package," Leclerc says when asked by Autosport about that part of his skillset. "I'm always trying to improve everything. I'm trying to stay as calm as possible in difficult situations.

"The biggest work I've done is to have the same amount of concentration but wasting a lot less energy. That helps a lot in F1 because it's a long season, you have a lot to do in between the grands prix and you need to put the focus on the right things."

Of course, training the brain is immensely complicated and - short of hooking himself up to an EEG - there is little way to test the progress.

"It's not so black and white," Leclerc admits. "It depends how much you slept and things like this. It is very complex but as a person I feel better managing the difficult situations.

"The results, you see them more on-track than [results] on paper, than when you are lifting weights."

One could argue that Leclerc's outbursts are a sign that the results on-track are not particularly encouraging, but that oversimplifies the matter. Condensing emotion under pressure takes serious mental control and capacity. Doing so while threading an F1 car through a street circuit requires focus that, if it could be quantified, would be barely comprehensible to us mortals.

When it all goes wrong, and that spell of concentration is broken, is it any wonder if that restrained emotion finally spills over? As Vettel puts it: "If you would sound completely relaxed probably you would be asked afterwards: 'Don't you care? You sound so relaxed, what is wrong with you?'"

It is true there have been moments on-track that could be read as further proof Leclerc is struggling under the weight of expectation. Without question, he must improve how he threads it together. After his rookie season, Autosport flagged up that Leclerc was susceptible to not stringing together his ideal lap in qualifying, while Vettel was the best in the field last year at doing exactly that. Leclerc is counting the cost of that trait four races into 2019.

In Australia, Leclerc endured a scruffy weekend when the car was troublesome, and though his race pace proved he was the quicker of the two drivers the damage had already been done and he was consigned to finishing behind Vettel.

In China, Leclerc slammed himself for failing to produce in qualifying, and despite getting ahead on the first lap his brief struggle in the opening stint condemned him to playing second fiddle behind Vettel again. In Azerbaijan, he was again the fastest Ferrari, but paid the price for his mistake in qualifying.

One could therefore point to three of the four race weekends as proof that Leclerc is not handling the pressure of Ferrari and is overdriving while its car remains on edge. However, like chastising him for the qualifying error, that serves little purpose other than to twist reality to further a negative narrative.

Leclerc shows a rare ability to acknowledge when he is at fault. That opens the door to immediate scrutiny of the error and working out how to fix it. And Leclerc is very good at fixing it

It ignores the fact that Bahrain was Leclerc at his very best, stunningly fast and impervious to similar pressure. Ferrari desperately needed to hit back quickly after its woeful showing in Australia and it was Leclerc who rose to the occasion, not Vettel.

Yes, he threw away his pole advantage at the start, but equally he fought off the attentions of Hamilton on the opening lap to prevent further damage, quickly passed the other Mercedes of Valtteri Bottas and made short work of Vettel too, despite a Ferrari team order to hold station.

At one with the car, he was on another level all weekend - don't take these words for it, Hamilton said the same. That was a gutsy, assured performance from Leclerc. Without a control electronics failure from Ferrari he would already have been a race winner. Nobody would be arguing that what happened in Baku was the mistake of a man who can't stand the heat. Perhaps it would not have even happened at all.

"When it's your mistake, we're tough on ourselves," said Hamilton when asked about Leclerc's reaction to his error in Azerbaijan. "Maybe a little bit less when you're older. But still, it's painful.

"There's a lot of pressure around a track like this, on his young shoulders, so it's totally normal. Years and years ago I didn't come out of my room for two or three days when I had some experience like that, so I totally understand how he feels.

"It's cool that he's open about it, because he can get it out and move forwards."

Leclerc is very good at that. The precious few mistakes he has made in his fledgling career have been swiftly followed by personal condemnation: and then nothing.

Crucially, by criticising himself so severely Leclerc shows a rare ability to acknowledge when he is the person at fault. That opens the door to immediate scrutiny of the mistake and working out how to fix it. And Leclerc is very good at fixing it.

Leclerc's chance at Ferrari this year means whatever mistakes he makes he must learn from in F1's greatest pressure cooker. But the best learn from their errors and rise to tougher challenges: it's been a key part of Max Verstappen's growth in maturity over the last 12 months, for example.

There is no such thing as a 100% perfect racing driver. There is no Messiah in F1. But a driver who seldom makes mistakes, and almost never makes the same one twice, is the next best thing: a champion.

That is the calibre of driver Charles Leclerc is. It's no wonder he holds himself to such high standards.