Charles Leclerc Doesn’t Share Lewis Hamilton’s Fear That Forced the Latter to Get the FIA Involved

Lewis Hamilton has been very open about his worries about the Red Bull domination being boring for F1. So much so that the Brit requested the FIA to look into the matter and set a fixed time, only after which can a team start their work on next year’s car. However, Ferrari star Charles Leclerc isn’t afraid of this issue.

Red Bull hasn’t been focusing too much on upgrading their current car. The car that they have developed, the RB19 is already dominating the grid and is in a different league of its own. This comes after the upgrades they have already brought in this season. On the other hand, Red Bull is also serving the penalty handed out by the FIA for their budget cap breach in 2021.

The Milton Keynes-based outfit is currently leading the constructors’ championship by a whopping margin of 208 points. Although mathematically, others can still catch up, it seems extremely unlikely that they will give up a lead this big. As a result, they can now focus fully on making yet another dominant car for 2024, a privilege that other teams cannot have since they have a lot left to fight for.

Charles Leclerc explains why he is not worried about developing the cars for 2024

Charles Leclerc believes that Red Bull being able to focus on next year’s car is just part of the process. Therefore, despite being miles behind Red Bull in terms of performance this season, he is not particularly worried about the whole issue.

As quoted by MotorsportWeek , Leclerc said, “I’m not particularly worried. It’s part of the game, no? Whenever you have an edge in one season, then obviously the risk for the other teams is that this team is trying to take time in order to develop next year’s car”

Leclerc also spoke about the situation at Ferrari and explained that they still have to focus on their current car because it has some overwhelming weaknesses. However, once those problems are solved, they can start thinking about next year. As it turns out, Leclerc isn’t the only one with this opinion as Mercedes’ George Russell feels the same.

George Russell backs up Leclerc’s opinion

Russell also spoke about the issue and seemed to agree with Leclerc’s viewpoint. When asked if Red Bull are gaining an unfair advantage by switching their focus to the 2024 car, Russell explained that he doesn’t feel so.

Russell said, “I think with the stable regulations this year and next year, the car’s kind of roll into next season anyway.” He further commented that the car that Mercedes would finish this year with, would naturally evolve into next year’s car.

Therefore, according to Russell, it does not make sense for Mercedes to stop focusing on their current car. According to Russell, like the SF23, the W14 also has quite a lot of shortcomings which must be tended to first before they can think about the next season.