Charles Leclerc has pledged that Ferrari is “very much focused on ourselves” with the potential of an improved performance at the British Grand Prix after admitting to mistakes in Austria.
The Scuderia lined up second and third at the Red Bull Ring, but its race pace fell away, with Leclerc eighth, and Lewis Hamilton fifth, and were overtaken on pure pace by both McLaren and Red Bull.
After the race, Team Principal Fred Vasseur commented that “we were probably too focused on Mercedes,” acknowledging a failure to put store by its rivals behind that eventually caught them up.
At Silverstone this weekend, Hamilton took pole position for the Sprint Race, but did not have the pace across the meagre 19 laps for victory, having been overtaken by Andrea Kimi Antonelli at half-distance.
In qualifying for the Grand Prix, Antonelli was the class of the field again, taking pole by nearly two tenths from second-placed Leclerc, with Hamilton third, a further tenth behind.
Speaking to media after qualifying, Leclerc, when asked by Motorsport Week if it would learn from that and if they were confident of not falling back this time around, issued a firm stance that the Maranello-based squad would be single-minded in its approach.
“Well, I think really we are very much focused on ourselves and that is the most important thing we need to do,” he said.
“Then going into the race, of course, you have some kind of targets and you’ve got to have a clear vision on who you are fighting in order to adapt your strategy around that.
“I think in Austria maybe we didn’t do a great job doing that, but we will rather have that optimistic mentality rather than the other way around.
“But it’s surely a fine-tuning that we need to do. But yeah, most of all, I think we shall focus on ourselves. It’s the most important.”
Leclerc pleased to have ‘good feeling’ again with Ferrari
Leclerc has struggled compare to Hamilton just lately, having fallen short of him amid his resurgent Barcelona-Catalunya win in May, preceded by his DNF in Monaco, where Hamilton took a strong second place.
And whilst the pair both struggled in Austria, Hamilton was still the stronger of the two in the race itself.
Leclerc will be hoping the qualifying result on Saturday at Silverstone will be the beginning of a new purple patch.
“I’m pleased,” the Monegasque said of his P2 ahead of Hamilton. “It’s been a few tough races where the feeling was not quite right, where I was struggling to put everything together.
“On the Sundays, we’ve had things that sometimes we couldn’t score points, so to be back with a good feeling, there’s been so much work behind the scenes to get back that feeling inside the car.
“Today is probably the first time where I had it back. So that is a good thing. But at the same time, I know how much I’ve struggled to be consistent recently. So it’s only the beginning, but it’s a good step in the right direction.”
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