Leclerc Shares His Honest Opinion On Sprint Weekend Format For Chinese Grand Prix
F1Wednesday, 17 April 2024 at 07:30
Unlike his teammate, Charle Leclerc expressed no worries about the upcoming sprint weekend and said he likes the current format.
Scuderia Ferrari F1 driver Carlos Sainz explained he thought the Shanghai International Circuit was one of the best and a great choice for a sprint weekend, but not under the current circumstances.
The Spanish driver expressed worries about the recent resurfacing of the track and that the new generation of F1 cars has not yet raced at this circuit
The 29-year-old thought there were just too many risks involved for drivers only to have one practice session and then go straight into the sprint shootout and the sprint race.
Charles Leclerc acknowledged that this format of the weekend will require perfect execution from him and his team. But unlike Sainz, he suggested he liked this. He said:
"It's going to be an interesting weekend. As always, I think it's always quite tricky with the Sprint weekend and you have no room for a mistake. But I like this."
Leclerc identified qualifying as something he needs to work on after the first four rounds of the 2024 season, as Sainz outperformed him in the last two. The sprint weekend basically has two qualifying sessions, so the Monegaque will have more space to practice.
"It's even more of a challenge because qualifying now is a point I need to focus on for putting the tires in the right window. So I'll have two qualifying [sessions] in Shanghai, two chances to recover well."
The 26-year-old was then asked where he thinks his Italian team will stand in the pecking order for the Chinese Grand Prix, and he said:
"I don’t know, I think the picture will be relatively similar to where it is here, where Red Bull still have the upper hand."
"We are the second best team and then the others, but McLaren wasn't bad, [they were] really good today and was very close actually to us. So they are not that far [behind]. Let's see."
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