Charles Leclerc made his debut in Formula 1 with Sauber, but if Guenther Steiner had acted differently, then the Monegasque driver’s career could have turned out very differently.
Ferrari star Charles Leclerc is preparing for his ninth season on the grid, and eight of those have been with the Ferrari outfit.
However, after winning back-to-back GP3 and GP2 titles, it was clear that he was ready for Formula 1 in time for the 2018 season.
That opportunity was never going to be with Ferrari, as they had world champions Sebastian Vettel and Kimi Raikkonen in their cars, despite Leclerc being a part of the Italian team’s junior program.
Instead, Leclerc completed four practice sessions with Sauber in 2017, who eventually handed him his debut the following year.
However, then Haas team principal Guenther Steiner was reportedly offered the chance to take Leclerc on the previous year due to their partnership.
He gave a clear reason why he wasn’t interested despite some impressive practice outings for the team in 2016, but might have quickly regretted that choice.
Guenther Steiner rejected signing Charles Leclerc for Haas because he was ‘too inexperienced’
Speaking to the press, via Autosport, Steiner was asked about the prospect of bringing Leclerc in even though he hadn’t yet wrapped up the GP3 title.
He said: “In the position we are in, he’s too inexperienced.
“I wouldn’t say too young, as Max Verstappen does a good job. We highly respect what Leclerc is doing in FP1; he was on the gain immediately.
“But what we need as a team is somebody who can score points. We need to train the team; we cannot train the driver.
“It [taking a rookie] is not an option at the moment; it’s not a thing we want to do.
“If we take a new driver and he does not perform, it could be us who do not perform. Why would you take a risk?
“They take a risk because there is no other opportunity. If it doesn’t work out, we would be blamed. It’s not right.
“We need to look after ourselves and make the team bigger so we are ready for young talent.”
How Charles Leclerc performed during his Haas tests ahead of Sauber F1 debut
It speaks volumes about how excited Ferrari were about Leclerc that they organised for him to test a Formula 1 car in an official practice session while he was still competing in the third tier of single-seater racing.
He made his debut in FP1 at the 2016 British Grand Prix, and while he was 1.3 seconds slower than the other Haas driver, Romain Grosjean, he was quicker than fellow rookie Esteban Ocon.
Leclerc drove three more times for Haas that year in Hungary, Germany and Brazil before heading off to win the GP2 campaign the next year.
In his first season on the grid, Leclerc scored 39 points, beating his Sauber teammate Marcus Ericsson and Haas’ Grosjean.
Kevin Magnussen delivered the best season in Haas F1’s history to finish P9 in the championship, but Steiner might still wonder what Leclerc could have done in that car.
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