Hill highlights worrying Leclerc stat as 'promise unfulfilled' at Ferrari

Former Formula 1 World Champion Damon Hill believes Charles Leclerc has not fulfilled his potential at Ferrari, having lost out on the win during the United States Grand Prix.

Leclerc took his 21st career pole at the Circuit of the Americas but failed to convert it into a podium or win, after Ferrari elected to put him on the one-stop strategy.

He was the only driver inside the top ten to go for that strategy, with Ferrari later admitting that it was a "mistake" to put him on it.

Max Verstappen has now won more races from Leclerc starting on pole, than the Ferrari driver himself has managed to convert into race wins.

Hill also outlined another unwanted stat when speaking on the F1 Nation podcast: "It's the most [poles] that any driver has had without a world championship.

"He's been up there with the world champions, but he has not won. This is what we know about Charles.

"He is very good over one lap if it comes off, but the promise is not fulfilled."

Ferrari would be nowhere without Leclerc

While Hill was quick to point to Leclerc's failings to convert poles into wins, he acknowledged that much of Ferrari's success in the last few years have come from his approach to driving.

"I'm not putting it at his door at all. The reason he gets pole position, is he's able to extract the very maximum out of a car," he explained.

"But to do that for an entire race distance, where you can't do it with the with the tyre management anyway, that's where they come unstuck.

"They wouldn't have had any poles if it hadn't been for Charles ringing every last drop out of that car."

Leclerc finished sixth on the road but was eventually disqualified from the US Grand Prix, after it was found that he had excessive skid-block wear on his car along with Lewis Hamilton.