It seems that Charles Leclerc is continuing to make a name for himself.

Of course, his is not a name that has come out of nowhere. People have been talking about the young Monegasque for a long time. He does, after all, have strong ties to the world of motor racing, most notably through his relationship with Jules Bianchi, who was his godfather.

But there have been questions about how far Leclerc will go in the sport. In this blog, we'll hope to go some way towards answering the question by assessing his past, present, skills and weaknesses.

Early Success

Everyone knows that junior driving success doesn't necessarily translate into Formula One success. But it's also true that if you struggle in the junior categories, then you'll probably struggle in the professional environment, too. Happily for Leclerc, he performed exceptionally well in the juniors. Indeed, you probably have to look no further than the quote from Sebastian Vettel, who said that Leclerc "walked through the junior categories". It was his performance at this level that made people pay attention, not his close links with people in the industry. Many people have famous relatives, but not everyone can win six karting championships when they're still a teenager.

Winning Potential

Leclerc hasn't yet reached his peak performance, but he's still turning in some eye-catching displays on the circuit. Of course, when you have Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen performing so well, wins will be few and far between. And in truth, Leclerc maybe should have more podium finishes this season. However, he has been mixing near the top in nearly every race; the only outlier is the Russian Grand Prix when he finished 15th (due to penalties). If Hamilton or Verstappen aren't near the front of the queue at the beginning of the race, there will be plenty of people using a free bet offer to back Leclerc to pick up the third victory of his career.

Technical Ability

Charles Leclerc has a useful attribute on his side: he has plenty of technical talent behind the wheel. Indeed, his skill has allowed him to outperform some of his vehicles - he did extremely well in his Sauber vehicle, for instance. He's positioning himself as the leading driver outside of the big four (all the drivers from Red Bull and Mercedes) because he drives so well.

Rookie Mistakes

So far, Leclerc's vulnerability has been his tendency to make mistakes, far too many to win a championship. Yet you could also have said the same about Lewis Hamilton when during his early career - in fact, many people did say that. It's not uncommon for a young driver to make mistakes. They're still finding their way in the big leagues, after all. Whether Leclerc manages to step up and become one of the top drivers depends on his learning ability. If he can reduce or eliminate those errors, then we'll be talking about him for a long time to come.

Star Quality

There's a final element that we have to consider when we talk about Charles Leclerc. And that's that he quite obviously has ‘Formula One Star' written all over his face. He looks, walks, and drives like a champion, but style can only get you so far. Though he oozes start quality, there are no guarantees that it will translate into trophies. There's no doubt that, up until this point, he has relied heavily on his family connections; there is obvious talent, but these links have been extremely helpful when it comes to opening the closed doors of Formula One driving.

But at some point, there are no more doors to be opened. The only way to win is to drive around the track faster than everyone else. Whether he can do that remains to be seen, but you have to imagine that Leclerc and his team will be more confident than your average young driver.