Charles Leclerc says he will pick his fights better during the 2021 Formula 1 season as Ferrari looks to revive itself from a difficult campaign in 2020.
At F1’s most recent race in Bahrain last December, which ran under the Sakhir Grand Prix title, Leclerc was eliminated on the opening lap following an altercation with Sergio Perez and Max Verstappen as they battled over third place.
Leclerc admits it was “silly” to crash while fighting over a position he would likely lose later in the race, given the SF1000 was down on pace compared to Racing Point and Red Bull’s challengers.
As a result, the Monegasque driver affirms he will improve where he chooses his battles in 2021, with a car he hopes is more competitive than its predecessor.
“Let’s wait and see where we are again because I think there are positive signs already from the test and we will see for sure from Saturday onwards,” Leclerc said.
“I think I will probably choose my fights a little bit better. Last year, if you take here by example, I was fighting with a Red Bull which wouldn’t have been possible to keep behind for the rest of the race.
“So that was a bit silly to have a crash at that point of the race for these types of positions we wouldn’t have been able to keep anyway but many other occasions it helped us achieve much better results.”
Leclerc says that if a stronger result is on the table for him and the team during a race in 2021, he will not hesitate to be aggressive.
“I will choose my fights better but if I have to be aggressive at one point to get better results then I will do it,” Leclerc commented.
“As I have done in the past we’ve my mistakes. I’ve always tried to understand why I have done them and tried to not do them again.
“I will still be as motivated to try and do great results and we will have to see where we are at exactly to adapt my aggressivity on track. Of course, I will try not to reproduce these types of mistakes.”
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