Charles Leclerc Shares His Plan to Beat McLaren With “Not So Powerful Engine”

Monza was expected to be a challenging track for McLaren heading into the Italian GP. However, Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri defied the odds by locking out the front row in Saturday’s qualifying session. Nevertheless, Charles Leclerc—starting from P4—has devised a plan to get the better of the McLaren drivers in front of the Tifosi.

Overtaking in Monza is not the most difficult challenge, if one has pace. And Leclerc knows that McLaren has that. He feels that McLaren ran qualifying with a detuned engine. “…yesterday they ran with not very powerful engine mappings, so we’ll have to understand how much more potential they have to play with in the race,” he said as per Motorsport. 

Leclerc also insisted that the front of the grid will be close in the Grand Prix, and he wants to use that to his advantage. “We will have to try to stay in the DRS zone with the McLarens and try to overtake them,” the 26-year-old added. 

Charles Leclerc: “From the point of view of race pace we are all very close, we’ll have to see about McLaren, because yesterday they ran with not very powerful engine mappings, so we’ll have to…..”

1/3 https://t.co/COurjfwR6C

— Junaid #JB17 (@JunaidSamodien_) August 31, 2024

After qualifying, Leclerc was not the only driver who felt McLaren had more to show than they did. Red Bull and Mercedes too, were left scratching their heads, after seeing McLaren’s performance.

Simply outpacing them wouldn’t be enough, which is why Leclerc plans to stay close to the drivers ahead of him. With George Russell positioned between himself and Norris and Piastri, Leclerc will need to overtake the Briton as soon as possible to have a fair shot at battling the McLaren drivers.