Leclerc: Bianchi deserved Ferrari seat ‘more than me’

Charles Leclerc believes his talented friend and mentor Jules Bianchi would have shined at Ferrari, even more than the Monegasque.

Leclerc rose through karting’s ranks with the unwavering support of Bianchi, who was eight years older than his young protégé and the Scuderia charger’s Godfather.

By the time Leclerc switched to cars, Bianchi had successfully worked his way up the motorsport ladder, entered Ferrari’s Driver Academy and was undertaking his first formative year in F1 with the minnow Marussia outfit.

Alas, a crash in the 2014 Japanese Grand Prix left the young hopeful with severe head injuries and in a coma. Bianchi died nine months later in July 2015.

Ricciardo: Leclerc a ‘delayed version’ of Jules Bianchi

It was a devastating blow to both racing families.

“The father of Jules and my father always joked that we had very similar careers,” Leclerc recalled, speaking to the media on Wednesday.

“And strangely when he was racing and I was racing, every time there was a weekend 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.”

Despite his sub-par equipment, Bianchi managed to secure an amazing P9 points finish at Monaco in 2014, a result that offered a clear glimpse of the Frenchman’s promising talent.

Last week, Daniel Ricciardo expressed his belief that Leclerc was a pretty good proxy for what Bianchi could have achieved.

“In some ways, I feel Charles is doing now what Jules would have been doing,” said the Aussie. “It’s like Charles is the delayed version of what Jules would have done with the success he’s having.”

A modest Leclerc believes his best friend would have likely surpassed his own achievements.

“I’m pretty sure Jules had shown what he had to show in Formula 1,” added Leclerc.

“There was definitely a lot more to come. I think results like in Monaco 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.”