Charles Leclerc is overperforming the potential of his 2020 Ferrari, Formula 1 motorsport boss Ross Brawn says after his second podium of the year at the British Grand Prix.
The Monegasque bounced back brilliantly from two failures to score in Styria and Budapest to add a third-place trophy at Silverstone to the second place one he earned in the season-opener in Spielberg.
Key to it was Ferrari opting for a bold low downforce setup to try and negate some of their top speed disadvantage, with Leclerc comfortably running in the top-five runner throughout the weekend.
“Charles’ podium was fortuitous, following Valtteri [Bottas]’s tyre problem, but considering the difficulties they are having with the car, his performance was hugely impressive,” Brawn wrote in his Formula1.com column.
“He continues to crunch out big results that are beyond what the car is really capable of and he is leaving us all waiting with bated breath for when they get the car sorted out. He’s driving quite exceptionally.”
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As for Ferrari boss Mattia Binotto, he too had high praise for his driver.
“Mixed fortunes today,” he surmised. “On the plus side is Charles’ podium finish. After a good qualifying yesterday, he was perfect in the race, doing an impeccable job of managing the tyres.
“On the minus side, is Sebastian [Vettel]’s result. Again today, he was clearly not happy with his car: we have to study the data closely to work out why.”
Indeed, Vettel was left a distant 10th after one of his toughest weekends for quite some time.
“It can be done, very little things, but on Seb’s car we can do a lot more,” Binotto said on if improvements can be made for this weekend’s second Silverstone race.
“He lost some track time on Friday which didn’t help. He was never confident with the car. There is a lot of data to look at and try to address it.”
