If you were to think about it, then you’d realise that March 17, 2019 wasn’t an ordinary day in the sport’s timeline.
However, exactly half a decade has gone by since the very date that holds tremendous importance to the world of Formula 1.
But the one person, in particular, to whom it matters an incredible deal is a certain Charles Leclerc.
Quite frankly, there is no rocket science theory to this; five years back in the day March 17 happened to be the date of Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari debut.
And this, truth be told, was indicative of a momentous shift in the life of a driver who brings life to Scuderia Ferrari.
At the departure of a Ferrari great in Kimi Raikkonen and also one who last brought glory to Ferrari, circa 2007, the team would open its arms to embrace a talent whose craft is as adrenaline spiked as it is gifted.
Long before he won at Spa Francorchamps, defeating a legend like Hamilton (soon to be his future teammate) in the process and before he conquered a consecutive victory, following up Belgium’s lively form with an enthralling win at Monza, Charles Leclerc first sat in a Ferrari on March 17, 2019.
In so doing, Leclerc would start a brand new season full of vigour and enthusiasm, and embark on a fresh career trajectory.
It’s a career move that the intrepid Ferrari fan hopes would yield a world title someday.
And from what one gathers as on date, it would ultimately turn out to be a move that would enable one of the smartest, quickest and most capable drivers out there to get some taste of victory thanks to his courageous triumphs at the Belgian Grand Prix and Ferrari’s home race at Italy.
But rather interestingly, back on that date, March 17 would also see three other solidly capable drivers marking their F1 debuts.
While Leclerc would sit seat buckled at Melbourne to start his maiden season with the sport’s most popular outfit, Lando Norris, George Russell and Alex Albon, too would get their first ever taste of what it means to go Grand Prix racing.
However, on his part, Charles Leclerc looked confident and able in that Scuderia Ferrari holding onto his own despite having the onerous challenge of teaming alongside a legend in Sebastian Vettel.
He would finish his first-ever street course decked in red racing overalls in a fifth, a fighting result that enabled him to get the hang of the enormous challenge of being a Ferrari newcomer.
Though, there was a sense of consistency in Leclerc’s result; he had gathered a fight in qualifying at the Australian Grand Prix and didn’t really seem that far off the fourth-placed Sebastian Vettel.
The 58-lap contest delivered a clear verdict; the newcomer to Maranello from Monaco was a little over a second adrift of Vettel.
But Ferrari derived confidence from the fact that Leclerc’s competitiveness in the end saw him position his machine ahead of the troika of Magnussen’s Haas, Hulkenberg’s Renault and Raikkonen’s Alfa Romeo.
Where it stands today, already into his sixth season with the sport’s premier racing outfit, Charles Leclerc has grown in stature and confidence.
The days of catching up to Sebastian Vettel are long gone; today, the Monegasque is, quite frankly, the fastest driver on the grid over a single lap. He’s somewhere excelled in qualifying even in testing conditions and constricting circuits.
His title rival continues to be Max Verstappen with whom he fought fire to fire in the first half of the 2022 season, thereby forging a thoroughly watchable rivalry that has nothing bitter or horrendous about it.
While surely Leclerc’s bound to go a long way and there’s so much more he has to learn and achieve, he’s got the experience under his belt to deliver the results that Ferrari so desperately seek.
His memorable wins at tracks like Spielberg and Sakhir in the recent times have only bolstered his credentials as a serious talent who has in him to be a great of the sport.
That’s despite facing no dearth in the enormity of competition, whether one thinks about Russell or Norris.
Despite not winning a single race last year, Leclerc somehow managed to emerge ahead of his teammate Sainz last year in a Ferrari that had both on and off days on the grid. But all of that said, the biggest question that only the future will reveal is whether the massively talented force in the sport can bring glory back to the Ferrari paddock.
Surely, millions around the world as also Leclerc himself lives and breathes for that day!