Leclerc Shares 'Initial Feelings' On 'Unfortunate' Red Bull Speed Ahead Of 2024 Season
F1Friday, 23 February 2024 at 21:15
Charles Leclerc shared his first impressions of Red Bull's RB20 in comparison to Ferrari after the second day of testing.
Yesterday, the Monegasque driver sat behind the steering wheel of Ferrari's 2024 challenger SF-24 for the first half of the day before leaving it to Carlos Sainz.
Initially, Leclerc was supposed to drive the car only during the morning session, but it was cut short by one hour as he went over a loose drain cover and damaged the floor of his car.
Fortunately, one hour was added to the afternoon session, so Leclerc got the driving time he needed. Overall, on Thursday, he completed 54 laps of the pre-season testing at Bahrain International Circuit.
The 26-year-old said the SF-24 feels better than the previous year's model regarding driveability and predictability. Concerning the comparison to others, he told the media:
“"It feels like every winter test, which means that we don't understand a thing. Because for now, it's too early to say, we have no idea what are the fuel levels of everybody else."”
Every day during the testing, it is emphasized that the lap times are to be taken with a grain of salt, but the Ferrari driver feels Red Bull will "unfortunately" remain in the lead this season as well.
“"My initial feeling is that Red Bull, unfortunately, remains quite a bit ahead. They have done very impressive lap times."”
On the other hand, Leclerc added that it is just his feeling without any data backing it up. The actual speed of every car will be determined next week during the qualifying session on Friday.
“"But this is only my own feeling, not looking at data, because again data doesn't mean much for now."”
Nevertheless, it seems like Ferrari made a decent step forward this year. How close do you expect the Italian team to be to Red Bull?
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