What Does Leading Formula-E Driver Sam Bird Have To Say On Leclerc?

For a driver who doesn’t really care about anything else other than speeding up on the race track and upholding the value of good, clean racing, Sam Bird’s driving style also mirrors his attitude to aspects related to racing.

He’s simple. He’s fast. And more importantly, the 35-year-old British driver doesn’t believe in mincing words. Not one bit.

Speaking recently to a Motorsports podcast show on a host of things concerning racing and even the top draw of Grand Prix racing, i.e., Formula 1, Sam Bird spoke at length about his impressions on the famous racing marquee Ferrari.

And that’s not all; the man with 11 race wins and 22 podiums against his name ever since his 2014 debut in Formula E, also alluded to the special talent that is a certain Charles Leclerc.

He didn’t sugar coat anyone or any sentences for that matter as he conveyed quite simply the regard for the famous Monegasque talent associated with the thumping Italian outfit.

What does Sam Bird, among Formula E’s knows faces, think of Leclerc?

Every team would love to get the services of Charles Leclerc. Of course they would. I mean, he’s one of the best drivers on the grid,” Sam Bird said on the BBC’s Chequered Flag podcast.

“He would dearly love for Ferrari to come out the traps next year with a car that can fight Max Verstappen, because Charles Leclerc will fancy himself against Max Verstappen.

“He will be going into the winter thinking, ‘I didn’t have the car, they didn’t give me the car, and if they give me the car, I’ll fight this guy, and we’ll go head to head.’”

Meanwhile, the leading Motorsport publication from which these quotes are taken also reflected upon how Leclerc evaluated his own performance in the recently-held F1 season (2022). And the following is worth noting:

“Obviously we’ve seen the images, quite a lot of frustrating moments, but also some some very good ones. Obviously, we cannot forget from how far we’ve come. 2020 and 2021 had been two very difficult years for the team, but we kept pushing and it’s still great to finish second this year. We didn’t quite make it, but we’ll work harder than ever to try and challenge the Red Bull guys for longer next year and hopefully, come back on top.”

All of that said with Sam Bird’s views as well as Leclerc’s own views known, what could be true is that 2023 might just be the year where Ferrari manage to get the hang of the contests in entirety instead of championing just one or two or maybe three Grands Prix from the entire year.

And who knows, true to Sam Bird talking so appreciatively of Leclerc, maybe the driver decked in the Scarlet red racing overalls will have the last hurrah. But again, will Max Verstappen make things that easy in the end?