19 poles, 4 wins, and a conversion ratio of 21.05%—these are the numbers of Charles Leclerc in Formula 1 since he took his first pole in the 2019 Bahrain GP. The win percentage here puts Leclerc in a bad spotlight that doesn’t show the whole picture, i.e., the plight of Ferrari in recent years. Yet, the stat has been making the rounds, showing the alleged failure of the Monegasque to convert wins from a leading position.

The fans of the sport, seeing the stat, have come out in defense of the driver, who is hated by none. Knowing very well the potential of the driver, the fans know that behind this low conversion, strategic and reliability issues at Ferrari and an underlying dominance at Mercedes and Red Bull play a huge part. Plus, according to them, the numbers show how talented the 25-year-old driver is with his ability to extract the maximum performance out of a single lap, making him one of the best qualifiers on the grid.

The stat in itself shows a bigger picture when we look at Max Verstappen’s numbers. Having made his debut in 2015, the Red Bull driver has 22 poles and 17 wins from them. Some even argued with Ayrton Senna’s numbers in 1987 when had achieved 16 poles, and had only converted 3 of them to wins with a conversion rate of 18.75%. This explains, with a less consistent car such as the Ferrari, how optimal the single-lap runs from Leclerc have been over the years, which deserves nothing but respect.

Fans defend Charles Leclerc with all their might

Charles Leclerc has been a heartthrob to all the fans of the sport. It’s not just the Tifosi who want to see him succeed, but everyone. The stat showed only half the picture, not representing the truest ability of the driver, who, since his debut with the Maranello-based outfit, has outscored his teammates in terms of both wins and poles. 

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Charles even last year outscored his teammate by quite some margin and appears to be on track to do so even this year, despite falling behind early in the championship.

The stats in Formula 1 don’t tell the entire story, and so has been the case with this one.

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What do you think Leclerc could do in his power if he were to improve these numbers? A switch to another team, perhaps?