Charles Leclerc believes set-up will be more important to the outcome of this weekend’s United States Grand Prix than the track characteristics suiting certain cars.
After enjoying a strong run since the summer break that delivered two pole positions and a victory for team-mate Carlos Sainz, Ferrari struggled hugely last time out in Qatar.
The Italian marque was unable to provide a challenge to either McLaren or Mercedes, with Leclerc winding up a seismic 33s adrift of the final podium place in the sole Ferrari.
However, Leclerc is optimistic about a stronger run for Ferrari in Austin, admitting that the team expected the Qatar weekend to represent the team’s worst event of the year.
But he insists that Ferrari will need to identify the correct set-up direction to enhance its chances with only one practice hour before parc ferme conditions are enforced.
Asked if he anticipates Ferrari being much closer to the leading pace this weekend, Leclerc said: “Well, I hope so. I think on paper, Qatar was probably one of the worst tracks for us, for the conditions, but also for the track characteristics in itself.
“Having said that, I think on Sprint weekends, the thing that has the most influence is how your FP1 goes, because then from FP1 you cannot change the car anymore.
“So the priority is to start FP1 strongly, and then to take the right decision with the set-up. And we know that this is crucial for the rest of the weekend. Much more than our car characteristic fitting the track.”
The challenge awaiting the drivers in setting up their cars will be amplified by the unique track layout at the Circuit of the Americas.
While the lap starts with a series of sweeping bends in Sector 1 and progresses on to a kilometre-long back straight, the final sector offers a technical challenge with a series of tight, slow-speed corners.
Although Leclerc accepts that high speed is where a compliant car is needed, he outlines Ferrari will focus mainly on improving its medium and slow-speed performance.
“Well, the high-speed is where you need confidence, that’s clear,” he acknowledged.
“But where we’ve been lacking a bit more in the last few races was the medium, slow-speed corners. So this is where we’ll be focusing more.”
Ferrari’s prospects of ensuring it maximised a damage limitation weekend were stymied before Sunday’s race even got underway when Sainz was ruled out with a fuel issue.
However, the Spaniard says he has no concerns coming into this weekend, revealing that Ferrari has altered a multitude of parts to avoid a repeat from occurring.
“No, we’ve changed a lot of parts in the car to try and obviously correct the issue that affected us in Qatar,” Sainz addressed.
“We are trying also to find solutions in the long term, not only in the short term because it’s definitely something that we are not happy with and we’ve also had issues in the past so yeah, a bit of a headache that is giving us this fuel tank now and then but yeah, we will try and put it back together this weekend and hopefully shouldn’t be any issues anytime soon.”
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