Leclerc: Harsh self-criticism best way to deal with errors

Charles Leclerc believes his harsh self-criticism seen occasionally through his Formula 1 career so far is the best way to deal with errors and mistakes.

Leclerc has largely impressed through his season-and-a-half in F1 so far, earning a move up from Sauber to Ferrari for 2019, where he has scored two pole positions and five podiums through the opening 12 races of the year.

When Leclerc has made errors - such as this year in Baku and Germany, or during his debut season in Bahrain qualifying - the Monegasque youngster has been quick to criticise himself, calling himself “stupid” over team radio.

Asked by Crash.net about his self-critical approach, Leclerc explained that he felt it was the best way of managing mistakes and learning from them.

"Actually it’s the way I work - I think it’s the best way forward, to not try and find any excuses whenever you do a mistake,” Leclerc said.

“[It’s best] just to analyse it and try and be very honest with yourself. That is what I am trying to do every time.

“I’m definitely not ashamed to say whenever I do a mistake, and I did one at the end [in Germany], it’s quite clear, so there’s no need to find excuses.”

Leclerc added that even in an era of F1 where data is plentiful and it is harder to lie about mistakes, he felt some still attempted to cover them up.

“I believe a few people sometimes still try and find excuses, or make up excuses for their mistakes,” he said.

“I’m not like this.”