Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc has opened up on multiple topics related to ESports/Twitch boom plus the 2020 F1 season, Sebastian Vettel and more.
Like Vettel spoke with selected media including F1.com, it was the turn of Leclerc to face them from his home at Monaco as he opened up on multiple topics including the sudden rise of the Monegasque through ESports and also on Twitch.
Before the 2020 F1 season was stopped due to COVID-19, it was only Lando Norris and Max Verstappen to stream their virtual races on Twitch, but since then, Leclerc, George Russell, Nicholas Latifi and Alexander Albon, have all joined the platform.
They have become a close-knit family, entertaining fans in this lull period. This is something which Leclerc is happy about and wishes to continue on later on as well. “There’s a lot of fun, but then there are some races where we take it quite seriously.
“The official virtual F1 races are actually quite serious – and we all want to win. This is good way to stay sharp and practise with pressure. Even on a virtual game like this, I have pressure. I actually enjoyed it a lot more than I thought I would, especially with Lando, George, Nicholas, Alex, having us on the same chat channel during racing, being able to discuss, it’s great. We’re laughing quite a lot. We are just having fun doing this altogether.
“It is great to be altogether in these times, especially to be able to entertain the people at home and many have had a lot of positive reactions to what I have been doing on Twitch and saying it helps them go through this tough time.
“That cheered me up massively and I am just happy to do it still. Of course, it’s never going to be the same as the real thing. We can’t wait to be racing in the real F1. It’s the closest you can get to it. We’re having fun, so that’s good.
“I’m thinking about what ideas I can come up with to try and help people that are bored at home and who don’t have the chance to have a simulator like I do here. I want to try and put a smile on their face. It has worked pretty well with the things what we have been doing with George, Nicholas and all the other F1 drivers in involved.
“It also shows people what we’re like as normal people. We can finally act as normal people and as normal 22-year-olds, it’s what I like the most about this and which I will continue after this situation. In future, I might stay a bit in the virtual world because I enjoy it,” summed up Leclerc.
On his Twitch, there is several requests to get Vettel on board and with the German having got a simulator now at his place, Leclerc hopes he can get him to race against him and others. “I’m not racing against Seb yet, but I will definitely send him a text very soon, when he has finished his installation, to try and race a bit with him which will be fun.”
Staying on Vettel, Leclerc spoke about the partnership with the German as well, which had some shaky moments in 2019 F1 season, especially when they came together in Brazil but the Monegasque played it down by adding that all is fine between them.
“Even though we had a few problems on track like in Brazil and things like this, I’m very happy with Seb and it has always been a good relationship even if from the outside it’s probably not seen as it was,” said Leclerc.
“It has always been good between us so I would be happy to keep him but I will respect Ferrari’s decision for whoever is next to me and at the end of the day it’s my job to adapt to the person next to me and you can always learn from whoever is your team mate. I would welcome anybody but if Seb stays I would definitely be happy.”
Moving on, Leclerc discussed about the 2020 F1 season and the possibility of racing without spectators. He is not keen but he is happy to go racing if possible, although he knows it will be challenge to go straight into the car without any prior work for months.
He liked the idea of racing on reverse format of a set circuit, citing Silverstone as example, while added that whoever wins the shortened championship, shouldn’t be termed as a not deserving champion as he put Mercedes as the prime target to beat.
“Mercedes and Lewis (Hamilton) are still the favourites even if it is an eight-race championship,” said Leclerc. “Maybe we will risk it more on track with risky strategies and risky overtakes. Maybe it will pay off and maybe not.
“You can always talk about the fairness [of racing twice at the same track] but we mostly have to look at the situation and try to make the most out of it. If we have to race twice on the same track, we should look at this possibility to have the most races possible.”
Here’s Ferrari clarifying Mattia Binotto’s statement
Here’s Charles Leclerc winning F1 China Virtual GP
Here’s work from Ferrari in COVID-19 fight
Here’s Charles Leclerc answering fan questions and here’s him talking Monza 2019
Here’s Sebastian Vettel speaking on multiple topics to media
