Following Carlos Sainz’s win at the Singapore Grand Prix, Charles Leclerc and Ferrari have been oozing confidence. Despite Ferrari struggling all season, the recent success at Monza and Singapore have made the Monegasque believe that Ferrari is not too far behind Red Bull in terms of overall development. Now, as per MotorsportWeek, he came up to share a clear signal to Max Verstappen’s team ahead of the Japanese Grand Prix.
The Ferrari duo gave a blistering performance in Singapore. However, coming to Japan, they were not too far from Verstappen’s Red Bull. Even though the Dutchman was on top, they were close to match his pace.
A track walk sing-a-long with @Charles_Leclerc 🎤
#F1 #JapaneseGP 🇯🇵 pic.twitter.com/7N9tFWwbQg
— Scuderia Ferrari (@ScuderiaFerrari) September 21, 2023
The two Free Practice sessions at Suzuka saw the Prancing Horse duo finish in P2 and P4 in the timesheet. However, the defending champion’s struggles with pace also gave out confidence in the Monegasque.
Leclerc supremely confident about Ferrari’s chance up ahead
Even though Red Bull and Verstappen are the clear favorites coming into Suzuka, Leclerc believes his team is not far from reaching the defending champions. Talking about this, he said, according to MotorsportWeek, “Obviously, we keep learning about this car.”
Following this, he added, “The last two and three races we learned a lot, and now it’s about putting all of it together, which we did in Singapore, so we need to do that here too. Red Bull seems to be extremely quick this weekend, but I don’t think we are too far off.”
A solid end to the day in Suzuka 💪 🎌#JapaneseGP 🇯🇵 #F1 pic.twitter.com/yUesavTOtY
— Scuderia Ferrari (@ScuderiaFerrari) September 22, 2023
The Monegasque had P4 and P2 finish during the two FP sessions, where the Dutchman toppled the timesheet in both sessions. Therefore, all eyes will be on Saturday to find out who comes out on top when it really matters.
Ferrari building their confidence following the Singapore GP win
The Scuderia Ferrari began their 2023 F1 season moderately after failing to capitalize on their F1-75 concept. As a result, they found themselves behind Red Bull, Mercedes, and Aston Martin in the Constructors’ championship.
However, they made slow but decent recoveries as they went on to overtake Aston Martin in the process and are breathing right behind Mercedes’ neck. Notably, the confidence has reached sky-high after their Marina Bay Circuit win.
As the Prancing Horse now began to deliver, this brought out a clear but subtle power struggle between Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz as the duo would want to get the better of each other at every race.
