“Leclerc and Norris’ situations are similar - what do you do?”

Ferrari’s Leclerc has endured a nightmare start to 2023, failing to finish two of the first grands prix and sarcastically saying his priority is “just finishing a race”.

Norris put his McLaren into P6 in Australia but doesn’t appear to have the machinery to justify his hype as one of F1’s future superstars.

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“Everything about the first two races makes me feel that Ferrari are a bit undercooked,” Clarkson said on the F1 Nation podcast. 

“They are just not getting anything quite right. The car isn’t fast enough. 

“Charles is already expressing a little bit of frustration over the radio as he did in Saudi.

“It just feels that they are half a step behind Aston Martin and two steps behind Red Bull at the moment. 

“Can Ferrari make up the difference?

“I see Lando’s situation as very similar to Leclerc’s at Ferrari. 

“They have both been in Formula One for roughly the same amount of time and they both want to take the next step. 

“Lando wants to start winning races, Charles wants to start winning world championships.

“What do you do if you are Charles? What do you do if you are Lando?

“I think you’ve just got to knuckle down and try and help motivate the people around you to do everything they can to improve the car.”

The Mercedes option?

Complicating Leclerc and Norris’ frustrations is the fact that they are both tied down on long-term contracts, and are among the best-paid in the list of F1 driver salaries.

Both have also been rumoured as a replacement for Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes, when the seven-time champion eventually retires.

They have both hit back at those rumours, though.

Leclerc said: "I know you are worried that I would go to Mercedes, but the truth is that there are no talks at all.”

Norris said: “I guess I’m fine with it to an extent, apart from when it’s just complete BS that people try and come up with and completely fake stories that people make up.”