Damon Hill admits 26-year-old F1 driver hasn’t reached his potential yet

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Damon Hill has admitted that Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc hasn’t fulfilled his full potential yet.

Speaking on the F1 Nation Podcast, Hill was reflecting on an eventful weekend at the United States Grand Prix.

Max Verstappen recorded his 15^th win of the season and took his career total up to 50 but he was run closer than normal on Sunday evening.

Lewis Hamilton was chasing him down and finished just a couple of seconds behind the Dutch three-time champion.

However, Hamilton was disqualified due to an issue with the underfloor skid blocks on his car, elevating Lando Norris to second for the fifth time this season.

Hamilton was joined on the DSQ list by Charles Leclerc as his Ferrari suffered the same issue.

Leclerc recorded another pole position that he wasn’t able to convert into a win, crossing the finish line in sixth before his car’s technical issue.

Hill has admitted that Leclerc’s never quite reached his potential although doesn’t blame the driver for this.

Joining Ferrari in 2019, he would have hoped over the past five seasons to have had a title-challenging car at least once.

He finished second in the championship in 2022, but with just three wins to his name that season, he was never a realistic competitor for Verstappen.

Hill believes Leclerc hasn’t reached his potential yet

Speaking about the Monegasque driver, Hill revealed an amazing stat and said: “It was his 21^st career pole for [Charles] Leclerc, it’s the most of any driver without a world championship.

“So, he’s been up there with the world champions but he has not one.

“This is what we know about Charles, he’s very good over one lap if it comes off but the promise is not fulfilled is it?

“I’m not putting it at his door at all and the reason he gets pole positions is he’s able to extract the very, very maximum out of the car.

“But to do that for the entire race distance when you know can’t do it with the tyre management anyway, that’s where they come unstuck.

“They wouldn’t have any poles if it wasn’t for Charles wringing every last drop out of that car.”

Leclerc still has plenty of time in his career to fulfil his potential and as Hill suggests, he’s getting the most he possibly can out of his Ferrari.

Right now, his best bet is to sit tight at the Italian team and hope they can develop a car for next year that can regularly challenge for titles.

He didn’t put up much of a fight against Verstappen this weekend, allowing the Dutchman to sail through on his way to victory.

It feels like a pointless fight right now, but all Leclerc can do is extract as much pace as possible out of his car and hope things improve in the future.