‘Difficult’ for Ferrari to match Red Bull development but Leclerc remains confident

Charles Leclerc is remaining confident but admits it will be “difficult” for Ferrari to match Red Bull’s pace of development in 2022.

The Monegasque has stormed into an early lead in the Drivers’ standings with two wins to his name. But at Imola, a first big mistake saw Leclerc only finish P6, as Max Verstappen closed the gap by 19 points with a perfect score.

Perhaps more worrying though was the pace Red Bull showed in Italy, thanks to upgrades aimed at weight-saving whereas Ferrari has yet to bring any new parts to the F1-75.

“I know underneath me I have a car that is capable of winning,” Leclerc said. “So the mindset is a little bit different this year.

Also Read:

• Leclerc says costly Imola spin due to being greedy not pressure
• Red Bull doesn’t expect ‘friendly’ Ferrari rivalry to escalate like Mercedes
• Ferrari ‘much better prepared’ for 2022 F1 title fight than recent years

“To keep up with Red Bull in terms of development will be difficult, but the same team that did this car will work on the development for this year’s car, so I am confident.

“There is no reason for us to be on the back foot because we’ve done a great job, or the guys at Maranello have done a great job, building up this car for this year.

“There are some developments coming and I’m confident it will go in the right direction.

“I wouldn’t focus too much on the others. I think we need to focus on ourselves.”

Ferrari’s rate of development has been their problem though in recent championship bids in 2017 and 2018, but Leclerc is sure lessons have been learnt.

“Since the last two years, I’ve really seen a jump in the way we’ve analysed every weekend, in the way we have identified also our weaknesses and how quick we were to react to try and get better in the places where we were struggling,” he said.

“So yeah, I am confident that the team can do a great job with development this year.”

Ferrari boss Mattia Binotto has confirmed some circuit-specific parts are coming for the Miami Grand Prix, with a less draggy rear wing and small adjustments aimed at limiting porpoising.

“The evolutions will come soon after,” he confirmed, hinting at bigger upgrades for the Spanish GP.

Binotto also denied suggestions that the Scuderia’s early performance is purely down to starting work earlier on this year’s car than their rivals.

“No, that’s completely wrong,” he told BILD.

“According to the rules, everyone was only allowed to start working in the wind tunnel and simulations on January 1 2021.

“We might have put more focus on 2022, but we all started at the same point and just did a good job. I don’t think we have an advantage over the others. Who has it will only be seen after the first five races.”