Leclerc thinks title dream is over for Mercedes

Charles Leclerc has said he thinks the World Championship may be a step too far for Mercedes this year but has predicted them to win races at some point.

Mercedes have looked well off the pace so far this campaign with their best result of third twice coming as a result of reliability issues in the Red Bull garage.

They occupy the third-place spot in the Constructors’ Championship but with Red Bull and Ferrari clearly having a quicker car, they look unlikely to be able to mount a serious defence of their title.

That is also the opinion of Championship leader Charles Leclerc who admitted the world title may be beyond Mercedes this year but did predict them to win a race this season.

“I never write them off because they are such a strong team and they have showed it in the past,” the Ferrari driver told CNN.

“But it is also true that they are struggling since the beginning of the season and they seem to have quite big issues that will require a bit of the time before they fix them. So I don‘t know. Maybe not for the championship this year, but I am pretty sure they will win races at some time in the season.”

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Leclerc has instead predicted a four-way race for the Drivers’ Championship between himself, his team-mate Carlos Sainz and the Red Bull drivers Max