Leclerc admits Ferrari falls short against McLaren’s superior F1 car, with little hope for a championship upset.
With six races remaining in the championship, Ferrari still trails McLaren F1 by 75 points, the leader in the constructors’ standings.
While Red Bull is a reachable target for second place due to Sergio Pérez’s poor form, isn’t the constructors’ title already lost for the Scuderia? Especially after a rather disappointing Singapore Grand Prix for the team, or Carlos Sainz’s crash in Baku.
Moreover, Lando Norris dominated the competition in Singapore, finishing 20 seconds ahead of Max Verstappen…
That’s why today, Charles Leclerc wants to stay realistic for Ferrari. Especially since some of the upcoming tracks may not be too favorable for the Reds…
“As much as the last two races have been good, we need to be careful not to have false expectations, because McLaren still has a better car than us, by far.”
“We have some tracks where we will be very close, and others where we will be further away. So, I don’t really see us in the fight, but if they make mistakes (at McLaren), we might find ourselves in this battle at the front, as is the case now.”
The Scuderia’s weaknesses, unlike last year, lie not in the race but in qualifications. Charles Leclerc is also aware of this weakness of the red car…
“Before the Singapore Grand Prix, we were quite close, and we’ve never really had the fastest car, except maybe in Monaco, and at Monza where we were also quite strong. But even at Monza, it could be debated… well.”
“I think if we stay consistent and avoid too many missed opportunities… we will tally up at the end, and I hope that will be enough to win the constructors’ title. But on pure pace, I don’t think we’re yet at the level to compete for the title.”
Qualifying 9th and 10th after a disastrous Q3, does Charles Leclerc not believe Ferrari missed a significant opportunity to score a good batch of points, especially given his strong race pace in Singapore?
“I would say yes. But looking at the pace of McLaren and Max, I’m not sure how many points we missed out on. George, for sure, I think we had the car to finish ahead of him. I haven’t rechecked everyone’s pace, but from what I’ve heard about Lando’s pace, I don’t think we had that level with our car, and I don’t know where the others were behind him.”
“A few points lost in Singapore, yes. I think it was a good recovery in the end (4th place). But again, we paid the price for poor qualifying. There will be times I make mistakes on Saturdays, and times when I have good qualifiers. But I paid a bit of a price for a bad Saturday.”
Did Charles Leclerc at least enjoy climbing from 9th to 4th place, in the Singapore pack?
“Yes, I enjoyed from the end of the first stint to the last laps. I loved it. The first 25 laps were a nightmare because I was just stuck like an idiot behind Fernando and Nico, just hoping they had to stop very soon, because I was behind. But it never really happened, and they extended their stint, so I had to wait. But overall, it was a good race from that point on. As soon as they stopped, we maximized our points.”
- You may also like>Logan Sargeant Shifts Gears to IndyCar Test
- Also make sure you follow us on social media>Facebook and>Twitter
McLaren Dominates F1 – Leclerc Sees No Change McLaren Dominates F1 – Leclerc Sees No Change
