On the Thursday before the Chinese Grand Prix, Charles Leclerc was asked if he thought Ferrari could compete for the Formula 1 championship this season. Last season, they came close to beating McLaren for the win in the Constructors ‘ championship. After the two previous races, Ferrari is lower in the championship standings than they would like.
Can Ferrari put up a fight?
Is Ferrari in a place to fight for a championship? Leclerc says, “Not yet.”
About the start of the season, he said, “If we go back to last year, looking at the first few races, the situation in terms of performance was quite a bit worse than where we are now.”
“We kind of expected Red Bull to dominate the whole season, and by taking the points that were available at the beginning of the season with the performance we had, we ended up actually fighting for the championship, which was way above our expectations.”
Regarding the team morale, he said, “There’s definitely not that feeling within the team at the moment. However, we do feel we haven’t maximized what we could have in the first two races, and that’s frustrating. But it doesn’t mean we cannot recover. The season is still very long. Small steps after small steps – we can still have an amazing season.”
Leclerc and Ferrari have struggled
After the Chinese Grand Prix, both Ferrari drivers were disqualified for not meeting specific technical regulations. The double disqualification came after the Australian Grand Prix, where both drivers landed outside the top five. Ferrari is now fifth in the constructors’ standings.
This article was written in collaboration with Esteban den Toom.
