Alfa Romeo sporting director Beat Zehnder has praised Charles Leclerc by heralding him as the “most perfect driver” he’s ever worked with in Formula 1.
Zehnder has been an ever-present figure at the heart of the Sauber outfit since the beginning of its foray into F1 in 1993 and has worked with some of the brightest young talents in the sport’s history.
Through its various guises as BMW and now Alfa Romeo, Sauber has always insisted on providing opportunities to up-and-coming drivers including future race winners Kimi Raikkonen, Felipe Massa, Sebastian Vettel, Robert Kubica and Leclerc most recently.
Having won the Formula 2 championship in dominant fashion in 2017, Leclerc progressed to F1 with the Alfa Romeo Sauber titled team the following year.
After a sluggish start to his debut campaign, Leclerc swiftly hit form and impressed hugely to earn a promotion to Ferrari for 2019, where he subsequently outscored four-time World Champion team-mate Sebastian Vettel across consecutive seasons.
Zehnder, who celebrates his 30th year associated with the Swiss-owned team this season, states that Leclerc’s strive to always improve is one asset that makes him the perfect racer.
“Charles for me is a huge talent and probably the most perfect driver I’ve worked with,” Zehnder told RacingNews365.com.
“Looking at his eagerness to understand the sport, the technical side, questioning himself – probably every now and then a little bit too much – he’s got a very healthy portion of self-criticism.”
Zehnder has pinpointed Leclerc’s tendency to be self-critical in the aftermath of an error or poor result as a standout trait that separates him from others.
“This for me makes a difference to a lot of drivers, not blaming someone else, it’s first blaming yourself,” he added.
Leclerc’s promotion to Ferrari resulted in Raikkonen’s second stint with the Scuderia coming to an end after five years.
However, the Finn opted to remain in F1 and returned to where it all began by signing a deal to fill the void left by Leclerc with the Sauber-ran Alfa Romeo team.
Having already worked with him early in his career, Raikkonen’s popular return to the Hinwil side gave Zehnder the opportunity to recount the 2007 World Champion’s extraordinary skillset.
The 57-year-old believes even in the twilight of his career Raikkonen was still better than any other driver at managing to immediately be on the pace in any car.
“Kimi is pure driving talent, he’s unbelievable,” he exclaimed. “Even when he was a little bit older when he came back, he can [still] drive every machine very quick – quicker than probably someone else without spending too much time in setup so he can sit in something and he feels [comfortable].”
Following three years with Alfa Romeo, Raikkonen retired from F1 at the end of 2021, with the ex-McLaren driver since participating infrequently in other racing categories.
Raikkonen embarked on his NASCAR Cup series debut last year at Watkins Glen and made another appearance in Austin at the end of last month.
Meanwhile, Leclerc has recorded five F1 wins since his move to Ferrari – including a victory in front of the Tifosi at the Italian Grand Prix during his first year in red.
However, a tilt at the World Championship has yet to materialise, with Ferrari’s protracted wait to end its title drought stretching into a 15th year after another failed attempt in 2022.
Despite winning two of the opening three races of last season, Ferrari was usurped by Red Bull in the development race and Leclerc only won a further single race in Austria.
The 2023 campaign has started dreadfully for the Italian marque as a pointless weekend in Australia has resigned it to being a distant fourth place in the Constructors’ Championship.
