Brawn: "Leclerc and Schumacher resemble each other in this"

The Portuguese Grand Prix was a fine one for Leclerc. He and his team, Ferrari, came to Portimao with a new diffuser and the 23-year old driver immediately reaped the benefits. On Saturday he qualified in a great fourth place and during the race he also finished in that position, after having some trouble with the tyres at the beginning and being overtaken by several other drivers.

"He helps the team when things don't go so well"

Brawn thinks Leclerc is doing very well with the material he gets from his team. He thinks he certainly motivates the Italians, he says in his column on Formula1.com. "It was another very strong performance from Charles and he continues to give Ferrari motivation for next year after what has been a very challenging campaign so far. The team will know that when they are able to give him a more competitive car, he will deliver the results. A driver can go two ways when faced with a difficult car. It can demotivate them, or a driver can do what Charles has done and dig even deeper and find extra performance that helps subsidise the team when things aren’t so great.

"I often felt with Michael, there were races he won which he should not have won because the car wasn’t good enough but he managed to find a way to win. And that is what makes a world champion. Lewis has demonstrated that. He’s got a great car now, but I recall him winning races when the car was not a top performer. And Charles is doing similar at Ferrari right now."