Leclerc and the pre-race on the grid: “It’s one of the most difficult parts of our sport”

Tension in F1 Formula 1 drivers have to cope with particularly difficult moments during a race weekend, both in terms of on-track challenges and extra-sporting tension. Precisely the latter, according to Charles Leclerc, coincides with a more complex situation to overcome for the Ferrari driver, despite his stay in the world of the Circus since 2018. The pre-race Unlike athletes in other sports, who can isolate themselves and maintain high concentration before the race, the attention that is concentrated on a driver even before the start means that this moment is one of the most difficult from a psychological point of view, as explained by Leclerc in the BSMT podcast: “I believe that arriving on the starting grid is one of the most difficult things in our sport – he commented – we do two or three laps to get to line up, then we stop and get out of the car. From that moment on, we have about twenty minutes to talk to the engineers, do the final briefing and prepare before returning. During those minutes on the grid, there are thousands of people, including sponsors and fans, who ask for photos and want to have a chat. At the same time, I receive all the information I need for the race my ‘bubble’, and this is ultimately the most difficult part.” The leap into F1 Winner of eight GPs, Leclerc explained the difficulty of preparing from Formula 2 to Formula 1, now trying to follow a fixed routine before the race: “I had to completely change my approach when I moved from Formula 2 to Formula 1 – he admitted – in F2 nobody knows you; you work relatively away from the spotlight throughout your career, you get in the car and that’s it. Then you find yourself in F1, and suddenly there are hundreds of thousands of people around you. It was very difficult in the first races, but luckily I got used to it quickly. However, it remains very difficult. Half an hour before getting into the car I practically always follow the same routine: I take a cold shower, a warm-up and so on. By constantly repeating it, I manage to ‘reset’ myself for a moment and get into the right mindset.”