Markus Erikson: Leclerc knows how to handle pressure

Markus Erikson is in his fourth year in the American IndyCar Series, having previously spent four seasons with Sauber, the Formula 1 team later renamed Alfa Romeo.

In 2018, Charles Leclerc, then reigning F2 champion, became a partner of the Swede, and Markus recalls that the talented debutant immediately made a strong impression on him.

“As early as 2018, when he first got into Formula 1, it immediately became clear that he was a very fast driver,” said Erickson, who took part in the F1 Nation podcast. There was no doubt about it, everyone saw it. His work attitude and business demeanor attract attention: he was determined to learn everything and succeed.

Charles asked me a lot of questions because by then I had four years of championship experience and I was trying to answer everything. He showed excellent speeds, and it should be noted that quality as self-critical.

He always berates himself for mistakes and learns from them – this is one of Charles’ greatest assets. He sometimes makes mistakes, but he tries not to repeat them, and this makes him stronger. It’s great that he has a good car this year to fight for wins, so Leclerc is showing good results.

He has the ability to keep his cool in the most difficult situations and I think he can handle the enormous pressure that inevitably comes with a title fight. At least when we were partners, I noticed that the more pressure, the better Charles performs. That’s the kind of person he is.

He hadn’t had any fun in the previous two years, as the Ferrari car didn’t have enough speed to compete with the leaders. But now that Charles is driving F1-75, we see that he can perform successfully and deal with pressure.

At the end of the Miami Grand Prix he was close behind Max Verstappen, trying to attack him and was ready to move on to the most decisive action. He is always ready to fight, so he can never be ruled out.