Charles Leclerc has disagreed with Lando Norris’ prediction that Ferrari could be in a position to triumph over Red Bull in this weekend’s Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix.
Red Bull has thrashed the competition since F1 returned to ground effect cars in 2022 and the reigning champions have begun the latest season with consecutive 1-2s.
Ferrari has emerged as the Austrian outfit’s nearest challenger in the opening rounds of 2024, with Leclerc and team-mate Carlos Sainz claiming one third-place apiece.
Despite Leclerc lagging 18 seconds behind Max Verstappen in Jeddah last time out, Norris is convinced that Ferrari has a chance of beating the Dutchman this weekend.
“I think there’ll be races this year where Max won’t win. Ferrari’s closest at the minute, so even this weekend, I think you might see Ferrari close and potentially ahead,” he said.
Ferrari elected to overhaul its car concept for this term as it endeavoured to overcome the recalcitrant characteristics of its troubled SF-23 predecessor from last season.
While Leclerc is certain the Italian marque is now in a stronger position, he outlines that the gap to Red Bull makes challenging for wins on outright pace still inconceivable.
“I mean in a better situation compared to last year? For sure,” Leclerc replied when Norris’ claim was put to him.
“However we’re speaking about four-tenths a lap in the race which is still significant. I’m more optimistic, not looking at the gap but more looking at the overall situation of the team, the way we’re working but also we have very clear ideas on what we need to improve in order to do steps forward.
“That’s what gives me the confidence that at some point during the season we’ll be there, putting them under more pressure in some tracks. That’s what gives me the confidence.
“For now the gap remains too big for us to realistically take a normal win coming race day.”
Leclerc dominated the Melbourne weekend in 2022 to achieve his maiden F1 grand slam, leading the entire race from pole position and also clocking the fastest lap.
However, the Monegasque exited the race on the opening lap 12 months ago amid a tough start to the season with a package that proved unpredictable to drive.
Having rectified those negative traits with a more benign SF-24 charger, Leclerc asserts that Ferrari’s ambition is to unlock more downforce to match Red Bull’s RB20.
“Two years ago was a very positive weekend. Last year was a much more difficult weekend, the characteristics of the car weren’t really going well with the characteristics of this track, however this year I think we’re going to be quite consistent in terms of our competitiveness,” he explained.
“It always happens that you have a weekend where you didn’t optimise the set-up as well and then you struggle a bit more.
“I will be surprised if there are tracks where we are much better or much worse because our package is a much stronger one.
“Last year we were struggling a lot, especially with driveability and whenever there was a bit more…especially wind, we were super sensitive to wind direction and whenever we’d get a certain type of wind, we’d struggle massively. This year it’s not the case.
“So I think we’ll be more consistent but now it’s up to us to find more performance because that’s what we’re obviously missing today especially in the race compared to Red Bull.”
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