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Ferrari, the formula 1 side, has a reputation of gifting their drivers the F1 cars and this time around it was Charles Leclerc who received a gift from them. The gift was the car-none none other than the SF90- in which he won the Italian GP at Monza in 2019, holding off the Mercedes pair of Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas.
"It’s very difficult to find the words to describe what I felt during this race [at Monza]. I had a lot of pressure – the whole team had a lot of pressure – because obviously, we were in Italy, Ferrari is huge in Italy, and everyone wanted us to win so there was big pressure around the whole team," Leclerc was quoted as saying by The SportsRush.
"So the pressure was building up. Then doing the pole was something special already, but then I had to focus on the race and in the race, I had no space to breathe. I had Lewis all the race at less than two seconds, I think, so a lot of pressure," he added.
To see the red army under the podium was something special
Leclerc went on to talk about how after having won the race, the most special moment was to be on the podium and to see the red army under the podium.
"And then to be on the podium, to finally have won the race, and to see the red army under the podium was something extremely special," he recalled.
"It gave me chills and made me realize what it is like to be a Ferrari driver, which of course I realized a little bit before, but I think you really realize it once you win in Monza and see the passion [that] you can really see in the eyes of the people – the passion that they have for the brand. It’s unbelievable to see," he signed off.