Ferrari boss Mattia Binotto has drawn comparisons between Charles Leclerc and Gilles Villeneuve, one of the team's most adored former drivers. Villeneuve only won six races for the Scuderia before he was killed, aged just 32, in a crash during qualifying for the 1982 Belgian Grand Prix. Amongst those six wins were some of the sport's most memorable drives, with the Canadian having developed a reputation for being one of the fastest drivers in the history of motor racing, as former teammate Jody Scheckter once described him. He was also incredibly popular amongst the Tifosi, Ferrari's most loyal supporters, with a bronze bust of Villeneuve awaiting those who enter the team's Fiorano test track in Maranello. But the buzz around Ferrari's newest hero, Leclerc, has left Binotto drawing comparisons between the two.
Binotto: Leclerc can rouse the Tifosi like Villeneuve once did
Leclerc was roared on from the grandstands during this season's Grand Prix at Imola, and will once again be the man tasked with carrying the weight of the Tifosi when F1 returns to Italy in September for the Italian Grand Prix. "There are only a few drivers who are capable of doing that. I think Charles is one of those, as was Gilles," Binotto said, speaking to members of the media in Monaco, including RacingNews365.com . "If I look at Charles, the way he's driving, his talent, and more than that, his passion and the passion of the fans for him: it's something that I call 'essere Ferrari (to be Ferrari)'. "Gilles was fantastic in that he only won six races but remains for all our team, the Tifosi, our driver. It really was his way of driving, his way of behaving and his passion. "I think Charles has got that. That's something which impassions ourselves (the team). We just hope that he will win more than six races."
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