“That Was a Really Bad Lap” – Charles Leclerc Rates His Own Driving Skills Ahead of the Imola GP

As Ferrari gear up for their first home Grand Prix of this season, Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz got up to a rather fun warm-up activity. The Monegasque driver took to the simulator to take a lap of the Imola circuit as Sainz commented on it. However, Leclerc was unhappy with his simulation lap, as he rated it as “really bad”.

After completing the lap, Leclerc stated, “That was a really bad lap around Imola”. On this, Sainz further echoed his teammate’s sentiments about how they have set a bad simulation benchmark for their home GP.

The #16 driver was chatting with his teammate all along as he simulated the lap. The duo discussed several nuances of the Imola track. They discussed which corners test their cars the most and how they feel the car is very “quick” around the lap.

Leclerc mentioned how he likes the first chicane, which is the Tamburrello chicane, and how a driver has to ride the curves around there. He also stressed the tough difficulty of the Acque Mineralli section of corners in the second sector of the lap.

Sainz also agreed that one needs “courage” to navigate that section of corners. Towards the end, Leclerc mentioned how he likes the last corner, which is named Rivazza.

Eventually, both Ferrari drivers discussed how they would have to navigate the main straight which is quite long. The Monegasque cited how they have to almost ride the wall for the shortest route to the line.

Leclerc also mentioned that they had to miss out on the race last season due to the excessive floods. While there is some flooding this year too in several regions of Italy, the Ferrari duo would expect to race in Imola with several expectations on the line.

Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz would hope to get Ferrari on top at home

Ferrari are bringing their first big upgrade package in front of their home fans at the Imola GP. Thus, expectations are palpable for the Prancing Horse to close up the gap to Red Bull. While it is easier said than done, Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc have shown such performances to make the Tifosi hopeful.

The new package for the SF-24 is a holistic one with new bits on the front and rear wings, and several aerodynamic bits in the cockpit as well. However, the bodywork, the radiator inlets, and the floor are a complete adaptive redesign, based on the RB20 concept that broke cover in Bahrain testing.

#Ferrari with upgrades in #Imola
Russell Batchelor, XPB#F1 #Formula1 #F1Tech pic.twitter.com/7ordzrEysd

— Carlo Platella (@RacEng2) May 16, 2024

The technical team at Ferrari studied the Red Bull concept to opt for this “extreme solution” rather than going for the basic version the Austrian team had on the late version of the RB19. Now, if the optimism coming out of Maranello is true, this new upgrade could unleash two to three-tenths of gain in ultimate pace.

If so, Leclerc and Sainz could be right behind Max Verstappen, provided Red Bull don’t take a significant step up with their own upgrades in Imola.