Leclerc Confident Ferrari Improved On Critical Weakness From Previous Two Seasons

Sunday, 25 February 2024 at 19:45

Charles Leclerc described one aspect of Ferrari cars that he believes his team managed to improve during the winter break.

When the current regulations were introduced in the 2022 season, it presented a huge opportunity for every single team on the grid, as it meant everyone had to start with a blank sheet of paper.

New regulations always have the potential to reshuffle the pecking order, and that happened in 2022. Instead of Mercedes being the fastest, the battle for the title came down to Red Bull versus Ferrari.

And it seemed like Ferrari could have the edge on the team from Milton Keynes, but as the season progressed, a crucial flaw in their car got increasingly exposed.

Ferrari struggled with tire management, and while they would often beat Red Bull in terms of outright one-lap qualifying speed, they couldn't match them in the long runs.

The Italian F1 team grappled with the same exact issue during both the 2022 and 2023 seasons, and so going into this year, one of the team's main goals was to combat the high tire degradation.

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Sharing his feelings after the three days of testing and a few hundred laps around the Bahrain International Circuit, Charles Leclerc told the media:

"Since the first lap on the simulator, it felt like an easier car to drive and similar on the track from the very first laps. The feeling was good, and we managed to be consistent straight away. This will help the race runs."

From what the 26-year-old described, Scuderia has been successful at attacking the tire degradation problem, and it should be a lot better in 2024.

"I'm confident we did a step forward in terms of tire management because whenever the tires are more used, you can feel the weaknesses of the car and with the characteristics of this car, it should be quite a bit better."

Will it be enough to challenge Red Bull for the Championship like they did at the beginning of 2022? We have to wait for the first race of the season, which is less than one week away, to find out.