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Is Leclerc ready for the F1 crown?

Charles Leclerc's stock rose considerably during a 2019 season in which he took more poles than anyone, and became only the second team-mate to beat Sebastian Vettel over the course of a year. But do he and Ferrari have the tools for a 2020 title tilt?

Kevin Turner Jan 16, 2020, 2:27 PM

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?

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Author Kevin Turner

Kevin Turner is Autosport’s Chief Editor. While studying History at the University of York, Kevin began covering UK club events as a freelance reporter for Autosport and Motorsport News. He joined the Autosport staff as Editorial Assistant on the magazine in 2006, winning what is now known as the Motorsport UK Young Journalist of the Year Award. He became National Editor in 2008 and over the next few seasons covered a range of international events, including the Le Mans 24 Hours, as well as the British Touring Car Championship and British GT. Kevin became Features Editor before switching to edit Motorsport News in 2014.

He returned to Autosport in 2016 to become editor of the magazine, a dream job that is still part of his role.

He became Chief Editor in 2020, helping to plan content for autosport.com and Autosport’s podcast as well as seeing the magazine through the coronavirus pandemic. Kevin also led work on the special publication celebrating 70 years of Autosport and has been a judge on the Aston Martin Autosport BRDC Young Driver Award, formerly known as the McLaren Autosport BRDC Award, since 2008. He lives in Warboys with his wife and two children.