Former Ferrari sporting director Cesare Fiorio has said that Charles Leclerc is short of where Fernando Alonso was during the Spaniard's time at the Scuderia as he makes more mistakes.

Ferrari have been one of the surprise packages so far this season in Formula 1 with them putting a tough 2020 behind them pretty quickly and bouncing back with a car that looks competitive enough to potentially be best of the rest behind Mercedes and Red Bull this season.

Of course, they'll want to achieve wins sooner rather than later and that is something Leclerc has done with the team in the past, with him also having a solid start to the campaign having achieved a sixth place and fourth place in the first two races - beating new teammate Carlos Sainz on both occasions.

For former Ferrari sporting director Fiorio, though, the Monegasque is not yet at the level of two-time world champion Fernando Alonso, who drove for Ferrari at the start of the last decade.

Speaking to Formula Passion's podcast Contatto and quoted by Racing News 365, Fiorio said: "The comparison with Alonso seems a bit disproportionate to me because Leclerc, despite being very strong and capable of setting incredible times to qualify the car above its possibilities, still makes some mistakes.

"Alonso made less at the time."

In fairness, Leclerc would have to go some to get near Alonso's achievements in his career, but he's still a young driver with plenty of years left and has shown during his time at Ferrari he is more than capable of chalking up victories.

During his time with the Prancing Horse, Alonso mounted two title challenges - in 2010 and 2012 - but was beaten by Sebastian Vettel on both occasions.

The Spaniard certainly drove the wheels off of the Ferrari during those years to take the fight to Red Bull, however, and if Leclerc could get to a similar level with the new regulations coming into play in 2022, perhaps we'll see him and F1's most famous team back on the top step of the podium before too long.