Charles Leclerc believes that Ferrari has been the “most improved” Formula 1 team over the last six months after his third place in the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.
Carlos Sainz’s result from Bahrain was replicated with Leclerc in Jeddah as Ferrari again established itself as the closest challenger to the dominant Red Bulls.
Leclerc had started second but had to resist an attack from Sergio Perez in the opening corners that saw the Ferrari prevail at Turn 4 after going wheel-to-wheel.
However, the Mexican breezed through into Turn 1 with the aid of DRS on the fourth lap and then pulled clear to wind up 10s clear of Leclerc on the race track.
Leclerc admits Ferrari’s top speed deficit means it must examine whether the choice to fit the same rear wing configuration as Bahrain was the correct choice.
“I remember really well [the] exit of Turn 2 where I was like I hope Checo will leave the space and he did,” Leclerc reflected. “So I kept my second place there.
“Then I cannot remember I think it was quite a clean overtake there wasn’t much I could do but we were struggling a little bit to defend today and also to attack I think we had a little bit less top speed than the others which was wanted but we’ll review that to see if it was the right decision not.”
Lance Stroll’s shunt at Turn 22 saw the Safety Car intervene on Lap 7, prompting the Red Bulls, Leclerc, George Russell and Oscar Piastri to make their sole pit stop.
Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton remained on track, though, with the pair proving to be an obstacle for the rest to overtake despite the offset in rubber at that stage.
Leclerc has explained how problems with the warm-up on the Hard compound on the restart prevented him from clearing the traffic earlier than had been expected.
in it taking longer to navigate some slower cars.
“We maximized everything today,” he assessed.
“We were struggling all the time at the beginning of the stints, whether it was at the beginning of the Medium or the beginning of the Hards we struggled to switch the tyres on.
“Towards the end of the stint we were pretty good with the Medium, we didn’t really see that with the Hard.
“We saw that towards the end, but it was too late to actually recover what we had lost at the beginning with the battles we had so all in all it’s been a positive race.”
Ferrari has sustained a much stronger beginning to this campaign than the previous one, where it was at odds with a recalcitrant car that proved wind-sensitive.
However, a mid-season concept change propelled Ferrari up the order, as it bagged the one non-Red Bull win of last term to end three points adrift of second place.
The marque has continued that momentum into 2024 with a more compliant car than its predecessor, boosting Leclerc’s hopes that it can catch up to Red Bull.
“I think we are doing small steps in the right direction,” he said. “If I look back at the last six, seven months we are the team that has improved the most and we are slowly closing the gap.
“[It’s still] quite big but if we keep working like that I’m sure it’s a matter of time before we put the Red Bulls under a bit more pressure.”
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