Charles Leclerc has predicted the next two Formula 1 Grands Prix will be “very tough” for Ferrari, but confirmed that the team has “pinpointed” what caused his dramatic tumble down the order in Austria.
The Monegasque looked set for a chance of victory in Spielberg, having qualified second on the grid behind George Russell, two places ahead of the sister Mercedes of Andrea Kimi Antonelli.
But Leclerc suffered a dramatic 180 in terms of performance, as he fell down the pack to finished a lowly eighth behind both McLarens and teammate Lewis Hamilton.
Leclerc has experimented with a new brake supplier – following Hamilton’s lead – after a torrid home race in Monaco in which he blamed that particular aspect of his SF-26 for his shock retirement, following a crash on a Safety Car restart.
Speaking to media ahead of this weekend’s British Grand Prix, Leclerc, when asked by Motorsport Week if he has felt this area improve despite his recent difficulty to keep up with Hamilton, did not specify, but exuded some confidence in what changes have been made overall, amid a new upgrades suite for the car.
“It wouldn’t be fair for me to go into the specifics of that, as well as because there’s been many changes in Barcelona,” he said.
“We arrived with a completely new package as a car. There are a few things that made me more comfortable in the car in Barcelona, for sure, and I think it was a much more positive weekend in terms of pace and feeling.
“Unfortunately, the result on Sunday was known as we had a technical issue, and on Saturday, obviously, it cost me quite a bit to do the mistake that I’ve done in Q3.
“For this reason, it hasn’t been the weekend I wanted, but in terms of pace, looking back at it, I wouldn’t describe that weekend as a struggle. I think it was a strong weekend in terms of pace, but it’s true that in Austria, it wasn’t a struggle until the Sunday, but on the Sunday, I definitely struggled.”
Charles Leclerc to ‘keep my down’ despite likely Ferrari dip
Leclerc confirmed that the Scuderia has located the cause of the issue and has been confident in its attempts to rectify it.
But with this weekend’s race at Silverstone providing a power problem, and the next race after that being the notorious Spa-Francorchamps, Leclerc admitted that Ferrari stands to lose out to a noticeable degree.
“I think we pinpointed a few things that played a big role into the lack of performance on Sunday. We’ll change that,” he continued. “It’s also fair to say that the next two races will be, I think, very tough for the team.
“The best thing I can do is to keep my head down and keep pushing no matter where we are fighting.”
Until Ferrari can bring a further version of its new ADUO-assisted power unit, there appears to be an acceptance that it will continue to be stuck behind Mercedes in the title race.
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