Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc said that he is not concerned about the results of Max Verstappen after Day 1 of the pre-season testing in Bahrain.
Testing began for the new season of F1 on 23 February in Bahrain. Red Bull’s Max Verstappen topped the timesheet on Day 1 clocking 1.32.837.
The Dutchman covered the most number of laps with 157. Aston Martin’s Fernando Alonso surprised the paddock with a surprise finish in second position clocking 1:32.866.
Meanwhile, the Ferrari drivers only ended up holding on to the third and fourth positions after the first day of testing in Bahrain.
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Charles Leclerc is not focusing on what Red Bull is doing
During the Day 2 of testing, Leclerc was asked about his review of Verstappen’s performance on the first day of testing.
The Monegasque said that as of now the Ferrari F1 team is not focusing on Red Bull’s day 1. He revealed that they had a very different programme and are happy with their own car set-up and its result.
Furthermore, he said that since there are a lot of questions that no one knows the answer to, the team is only focusing on themselves.
Charles: “No need to worry. Yesterday we did all the scans that have to be done to correlate the track with the factory. All the data collected is in line with what we expected. Today we will start to focus more on the feeling of the SF-23.”#F1Testing https://t.co/E2X0CcC7kZ
— tami. (@Vetteleclerc) February 24, 2023
Leclerc is unsure if new Pirelli tyres will fix Ferrari’s problems
After running Pirelli’s new tyres on Ferrari’s 2023 challenger, Leclerc is not convinced that the new tyres will solve the team’s 2022 tyre problems.
Following the problems that the team suffered in the 2022 season, the team designed the SF-23 hoping to eradicate the issues from last year. But Pirelli’s new tyres also play a part in that.
For the 2023 season, Pirelli has introduced revised tyres, not on the basis of compound but construction.
After his first-hand experience with those tyres, the Ferrari star remained uncertain as to whether this will help Ferrari or not. He told Motorsport.com that maybe the front tyres are a bit stronger.
But last year the problem of tyre degradation was persistent in both front and rear tyres. So the new tyres might neither help nor hurt the team in any way.
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