Charles Leclerc had previously stated that no team would be able to match Red Bull this season after the way the Milton Keynes outfit have dominated so far. This is because Red Bull have won all of the races this season, barring one. The only race that Red Bull failed to win was in Singapore, a Grand Prix that Ferrari won with Carlos Sainz. Following the Spaniard’s victory, Leclerc has revealed that the Prancing Horse have reduced the gap to Red Bull significantly.
Prior to Sainz’s victory at the Marina Bay Street Circuit, Red Bull was on a 15-race winning streak (one last season), the highest ever in F1 history. Max Verstappen had won 13 of them, while Sergio Perez won the other two. While the deficit that the likes of Ferrari have to the Milton Keynes outfit is still huge, it has reduced significantly since the summer break.
The key for the Italian outfit is now to finish second in the championship as they can no longer challenge Red Bull, who have already won this year’s title. As things stand, third-placed Ferrari are 20 points behind second-placed Mercedes, with six races remaining in the 2023 season.
Charles Leclerc credits Ferrari for reducing the gap to Red Bull
After a disastrous start to the 2023 season, Charles Leclerc is happy with the progress Ferrari has made recently. The progress of the Prancing Horse has been evident as Carlos Sainz managed to win the first race for the team in Singapore last month.
During the race at the Marina Bay Street Circuit, the Spaniard beat McLaren’s Lando Norris by just 0.812 seconds. With Ferrari now having made the first step of progress by winning a race this season, Leclerc expects his side to challenge Red Bull in 2024.
While speaking in a recent interview (as quoted by racefans.net), the Monegasque said, “All in all I think we are more happy with what we’ve learnt than depressed with the distance to Red Bull. Because I think with what we learn, we can do a significant step in the future, which hopefully will help us to close the gap to Red Bull as soon as possible“.
He then added that if Ferrari are to get rid of all their concerns, then they will need to build an entirely new car, and that is the hope for the next season. As for this year, he said that his side still has issues despite the team doing reasonably well at the Japanese Grand Prix two weeks ago.
Leclerc highlights Ferrari’s concerns after Japanese GP
Following the conclusion of the Japanese GP, Charles Leclerc stated that the SF-23 has been inconsistent throughout the year and that the car just works better on certain race tracks as compared to others. However, he made it clear that this did not mean that Ferrari have overcome all their issues after the race at Suzuka.
“I wouldn’t say that [Japan] was a breakthrough – in that, from that moment onwards it will help – because the issues of the car are still there,” explained the Monegaque (as quoted by racefans.net). The 25-year-old then concluded his remarks by explaining how he is adjusting his own driving style to drive the SF-23 in the best way possible.
Leclerc stated that even though he does not like a high amount of understeer, the SF-23 requires that, and hence, he has no choice but to set-up his car in that fashion. As a result, he stated that it is difficult for him to extract the maximum out of the car.
