Charles Leclerc believes his close friend and godfather, Jules Bianchi, deserved a seat at Ferrari more than he did.
Recently, Daniel Ricciardo named the former Marussia driver among the five most underrated talents he has competed against.
His argument being how Bianchi had only shown glimpses of his potential at the backmarker team before his horrific crash at the 2014 Japanese Grand Prix that ultimately took his life nine months later.
The Australian also pointed to how Leclerc is essentially writing the story Jules appeared destined to write, rising up through the Ferrari Academy to an eventual race seat at the Scuderia.
“The father of Jules and my father always joked that we had very similar careers,” the Monegasque said about Ricciardo’s comments talking to select media on Wednesday.
“Strangely when he and I were racing, every time there was a weekend when he had a very bad race, the same weekend I had a very bad race too. They were always joking [about] this.
“With our careers, obviously they are quite similar because with also Nicolas [Todt], my manager, he took more or less the same road for both of us.”
Leclerc then added his own tribute to Bianchi, who was eight years his senior.
“I’m pretty sure Jules had not shown what he had to show in Formula 1, there was definitely a lot more to come,” he said.
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“I think results like in Monaco (where he finished P9 in 2014) when he was in Marussia was telling a lot about his talent.
“So he definitely deserved the F1 seat, probably the Ferrari seat even more than I did, but things decided others for him, unfortunately.
“I’m pretty sure he would have shown probably even more than what I do. He was extremely talented.”
Of course, if Bianchi was still racing today, it’s almost certain he’d still be competing at Ferrari and Leclerc would probably be being lined up to replace Sebastian Vettel in 2021 if he hadn’t already.
What a story that would’ve been.
