Charles Leclerc does not think that Ferrari will be able to beat Red Bull Racing this weekend, but he believes that beating the Austrian team in general is becoming increasingly realistic. That gives Leclerc the confidence that it will happen at least one day. It is clear to the Monegasque that the gap is still too big for the time being.
Ferrari seems to be the second team for the time being and the team that has the most realistic chance of challenging Red Bull. The teams were already close together during qualifying in Bahrain, and it was also exciting in Jeddah. On race day, the gap to the Austrian racing team was not as big as in Bahrain. Leclerc also sees the progress, but does not want to celebrate too early. ‘Are we in a better situation compared to last year? Absolutely,” explains Leclerc, quoted by Motorsportweek.
After the SF-23 had shortcomings in many areas, the SF-24 is doing better. While Leclerc is confident that the Italian team is now in a stronger position, he emphasizes that the gap with Red Bull still makes challenging for victories on pure speed impossible. ‘But we are talking about four tenths per lap in the race, which is still significant. At the moment the gap remains too big for us to realistically achieve a ‘normal victory on race day’, the Monegasque said.
Text continues below the photo.
Leclerc sees a more consistent package
Regardless, the 26-year-old is optimistic about the team’s overall situation, the way they work and the plans on what they need to improve. The Ferrari driver can’t wait to get back in the car, especially with the good memories of his victory in 2022. ‘Two years ago was a very positive weekend. “Last year was a much more difficult weekend, the characteristics of the car didn’t really fit well with the characteristics of this circuit, but this year I think we will be quite consistent in terms of our competitiveness,” said Leclerc.
“It always happens that you have a weekend where you don’t optimize the set-up very well and then you struggle a little bit more,” he continues. Leclerc would therefore be surprised if there are circuits where Ferrari is suddenly much better or worse, because they now have a better package. ‘Last year we had a lot of trouble, especially with the controllability and we were super sensitive to the wind direction. This is not the case this year. I think we will be more consistent, but now it is up to us to find more performance because that is what we are clearly missing. Especially in the race compared to Red Bull.’
