Charles Leclerc has made a bold prediction for the 2023 title fight and the challenge of Mercedes next year.
Ferrari and Charles Leclerc had a strong start to the 2022 season winning the season opener in Bahrain. However, soon the Scuderia lost its momentum against Red Bull thanks to reliability issues accompanied by strategic mistakes. Regardless, another team that was rather disappointed in 2022 was Mercedes.
After 8 continuous years of dominance, the Silver Arrows suffered to produce a car competitive enough for a title challenge. Hence, Mercedes failed to put up a real challenge in the 2022 season with George Russell taking the only win in Brazil.
However, Mercedes did end the season on a high. Compared to how they started the season, Mercedes did manage to find a lot of pace by the last race in Abu Dhabi. The team still seemed a lot far from Red bull, however. But this might just change in 2023 with the side having a better grip on the problems they faced this year.
Charles Leclerc also knows this and expects a three-way title fight next year with Mercedes joining the hunt:
Leclerc claimed:
“I do believe Mercedes will be in the fight.”
“Another team? I haven’t seen signs yet maybe to believe that another team will join the top three, but Mercedes will definitely be there next year with a very strong car.”
“We’ve seen how much they’ve improved from the first to the last race. I think they understood what they did wrong, and this is normally a sign that it will go better. So hopefully it will be a three-team fight next year.”
Charles Leclerc will be hoping for a better year under new team principal Fred Vasseur. The Frenchman will be replacing Mattia Binotto.
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