Charles Leclerc says success for Ferrari in Formula 1’s Bahrain Grand Prix will be dependent on reducing the slow-speed understeer that was prevalent during testing.
Following a troubled campaign last term that resulted in a mid-season concept change, Ferrari has committed to a thorough revamp with its 2024 charger, the SF-24.
The Italian marque explained at the launch that its main ambition with its latest creation was to provide both drivers with a more compliant car than its predecessor.
Leclerc validated that Ferrari’s 2024 package was more driveable after pre-season testing, with the wind sensitivity issues that blighted it last season no longer existent.
The Monegasque driver believes that Ferrari’s more consistent platform will enable it to fixate on adding performance rather than taking time to understand problems.
“We have a stronger base and a much more solid base compared to last year, where it was a lot more inconsistent and a lot more difficult for us to understand in which direction to work,” Leclerc said.
“So this gives me the confidence for the future that the rate of development can be better than what he was in the first part of last year, where maybe we were a bit more flat with our improvement, because we just had to understand from where this inconsistency came from. So that is positive.”
But despite Ferrari’s promising prelude to the season, Leclerc has stressed that the Maranello-based squad still has room for improvement with its 2024 challenger.
Questioned on what areas Ferrari must strive to rectify, Leclerc answered: “I mean there are many things.
“Then to go into the details, I think all in all we have seen that in the low-speed corners there is still some progress to be made.
“However, it doesn’t stop there. There are many areas that we need to work on.
“And I think then again obviously it’s a relative sport and we’ve got to see after the first qualifying, after the first race, what are the main weaknesses compared to our opponents and from that moment onwards after that first race we’ll do it in order of priorities what are the biggest weaknesses compared to the others.”
Expanding on his concerns about Ferrari’s slow-speed performance, Leclerc reckons that each of the 10 teams encountered trouble with understeer throughout testing.
“We have quite a bit of understeer at the moment, struggling to rotate the car,” he explained.
“I think this is the tendency around the paddock, because when I look at onboards, I think everybody seems to be struggling with that.
“But it’s just which team of those is going to be the one most limited by this understeer in the slow speed as we have a little bit of work to do on that.”
Leclerc believes that the steps Ferrari put in place that enabled it to sustain a stronger end to the previous season has stood it in good stead for the upcoming campaign.
Asked what would represent a successful season for Ferrari in 2024, Leclerc replied: “To be challenging for many more wins.
“Definitely will be a step forward and that will be a positive season.
“I think we need to continue on the positive momentum of the second part of last year because as much as it’s not been a positive season as a whole – because we started much slower than what our expectations were at the beginning of 2023 – the second part of the year was much more positive and I think everybody in the team also felt that and around the paddock that we were in a positive state and was going towards better things and with a very clear vision of where we wanted to go and how to go there.
“This is exactly how we need to approach this season, to continue that way with clear visions and significant steps forward every time we put something inside the car, which was the case in the second part of last year.”
As a long term admirer of Hamilton, my concern is that his new partner next year Le Clerk might try too hard and cause a serious accident in his efforts to outdo Hamilton.
Furthermore I also fear that with this in his mind he may cause Hamilton or Verstsppen to have an accident for the same reasons