Former GP2 Champion Davide Valsecchi believes Charles Leclerc is Ferrari’s next Michael Schumacher. The former Italian driver is of the opinion that Leclerc is now ready to fight for wins and World Championships for the Scuderia.

Valsecchi backs Charles Leclerc as Ferrari’s next Schumacher

With Sebastian Vettel leaving Ferrari at the end of the season, Leclerc automatically assumes the role of team leader within Ferrari. To be fair, the Young Monegasque is probably already the de facto number 1 within the team, given Vettel’s impending exit.

But the signs were always pointing to Leclerc leading Ferrari into the next phase of F1. The Scuderia announced Leclerc after a single season in the sport. Fans questioned the early promotion, but it was completely justified over the course of the 2019 season.

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In his debut season for the Maranello outfit, Charles clinched 2 victories and a staggering 7 pole positions. The win at Monza cemented his place within the hearts of the Tifosi, as Ferrari’s young prince.

However, the biggest act of Ferrari’s clear faith in the Monegasque came towards the end of the year. In an unprecedented move, Ferrari renewed his contract for 5 years. It was quite clear that the Italian team sees some major potential in the 22-year-old.

Valsecchi thinks Leclerc has all the makings of a racer to emulate the great Michael Schumacher. Schumacher, during Ferrari’s dominant run in F1, won 5 World Championships in a row. The Scuderia is nowhere near that past form, but they have a good chance of regaining lost glory with Leclerc.

“Charles has already shown that he can perform at the level of Sebastian Vettel. Now that Ferrari has decided to go for the world title with him, it indicates that the team has the utmost confidence in the driver” Valsecchi told the F1 Nation podcast.

It’s a good decision because I think Ferrari will have a lot of trouble managing Leclerc and Vettel. In 2019 there were already three battles between the two drivers”

“It looks like Leclerc is going to be the new Schumacher for Ferrari. His time has now come to fight for the world championship”