‘My target is to become a world champion’: Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc on why he has his eyes on F1’s top prize

(CNN) — If at first you don’t succeed, try, try, try again.

It’s a saying that perhaps aptly describes Charles Leclerc’s pursuit of the Formula One holy grail: a maiden world drivers’ championship title.

Season by season the Ferrari driver has steadily chipped away, inching closer and closer to fulfilling his childhood dream but never quite getting over the line.

Second in 2022 and third last season, the laser-focused Monégasque now has his sights firmly set on becoming the sport’s top dog by winning the Italian outfit’s first world championship since 2007.

“My target is to become a world champion,” he tells CNN Sport.

“Obviously, last year, we finished second in the Constructors (Championship) and I want to win (it). But I want to win the world championship. This is my only dream and the only thing I’m working for.”

F1’s top dog

The competition, though, to reach the summit in 2025 will be as tough but potentially more open as the sport prepares to embark on another whirlwind 24-race season, beginning in Melbourne on March 16.

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen will be looking to continue his domination with a fifth successive championship title, but his crown feels more under threat than it has in recent seasons.

While McLaren’s Lando Norris is widely tipped to pose the biggest threat to the Dutchman, ably supported by his Australian counterpart Oscar Piastri, Leclerc could prove to be a dangerous challenger.

And the 27-year-old is all too aware that to beat the best, you must be the best.

“I’m just focusing on myself, to be the better version of myself whenever I get on the track,” says the Prancing Horse driver. “I’ve focused on my physical preparation, on my mental preparation, and, of course, on the simulator work.

“(I’m) trying to be as ready as possible (for when) we’ll be on track again next week in Bahrain (for preseason testing).”

‘My best season in Formula One’

Although he finished a distant third in the 2024 driver standings, it was a year consisting of three race wins for Leclerc – the joint most in a single season in his Formula One career.

The most memorable of those victories came at his home Grand Prix in the principality of Monaco.

After starting the race in pole position in two previous editions, it proved to be third time lucky for the Monégasque, and the result was given added, emotional weight with the local hero dedicating the win to his father, Hervé, who passed away in 2017 while Leclerc was on his way to the Formula Two title.

A growing maturity and confidence alongside strategic lessons from seasons gone by have prompted signs of optimism to fuel a title challenge.

“I was disappointed in the fact that were some races where we weren’t at the level I wanted us to be (in 2023),” he explains. “I was trying to do the miracle, and by doing that, you push the limits too much and you do big mistakes that cost a lot of points at the end of the season.

“In 2024, I put myself the target of, yes, whenever it’s possible to win, you’ve got to do it, but, whenever it’s not, you’ve got to accept the situation and just bring points home.

“I’m very happy with my 2024 season and I think it’s my best season in Formula One,” he says.

Formidable partnership

And if the already “extremely motivated” Leclerc needed any further impetus to seize his moment then he will have the prowess to lean on a seven-time world champion driving alongside him this season in the shape of Lewis Hamilton.

On paper, it represents a formidable partnership with two drivers each individually boasting bags of racing pedigree and collectively seeking success for a team starved of a constructors’ championship title since 2008.

While Hamilton harbors his own ambitions of securing a record-breaking eighth drivers’ championship title, Leclerc admits that having the 40-year-old join the Maranello-based team is both a “historic moment” and opportunity to tap into decades of experience to further enhance his personal dream.

“Lewis is going to bring so much to the team,” says an enthused Leclerc to CNN. “His experience, his way of his work, ethics, his talents, obviously – I’ve got a lot to learn from Lewis.

“This can only be beneficial for me and it’s going to be so positive for the team. It’s also a big motivation for me to show what I’m capable of and I’m really looking forward to it.”

The-CNN-Wire
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