Charles Leclerc finished the Austrian Grand Prix outside the points. His race was compromised at the start due to contact with Piastri. The updates brought by Ferrari are working but have created other limitations that need to be corrected.
“I’m very happy that this race is over.” This statement alone could describe Charles Leclerc’s race at the Austrian Grand Prix of Formula 1 held this afternoon at the Red Bull Ring.
The Ferrari driver was hit at the start by Oscar Piastri’s McLaren, as he was squeezed between the Australian’s McLaren on the outside and Sergio Perez’s Red Bull RB20 on the inside. The contact caused the front wing on the number 16 car to break, forcing the Monegasque driver to pit immediately and compromising his race.
“Well, first of all, we lost a lot with the front wing change at the beginning, then we did an entire stint behind Lando where I couldn’t overtake because otherwise I would have had blue flags and would have had to let him go again.” – the Monegasque driver explained.
“Both things made my race pace very difficult. When we had to use the pace to recover, we were stuck behind Lando, and the rest struggled. Firstly, we are not competitive enough. And then, of course, our race was hugely compromised after the first turn.”
Speaking about the early race contact, Charles Leclerc explained how he tried to brake to avoid being squeezed between Piastri and Perez’s cars, but mainly he thought the Mexican was overly optimistic in his inside move at the turn.
“I mean, I tried to pull back, but I think… I think Checo was a bit optimistic; it never ends well in the first turn if you try to go three-wide. Even double width is quite difficult, so triple width was very difficult. Oscar didn’t know, Checo was on the inside, and I found myself as a passenger. And then when you brake, Checo brakes even later, so once you’re there, you’re there. So, I tried to manage the situation as best as possible, but it was impossible.”
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Ferrari showed at the Red Bull Ring that they are the fourth force in the Championship at the moment. The regression compared to the early part of spring came with the introduction of a new aerodynamic package two races ago aimed at giving more downforce to the SF-24. According to Leclerc, the results are visible, but the new features have also created collateral problems that the team has yet to solve.
“The aerodynamic downforce values brought by the new package are as expected, and I confirm this, but this has brought other limitations that we need to examine, because since we introduced it, we have had some difficulties. Today we set up the car in a completely opposite way, so I believe there are many things to learn from the two configurations. I didn’t feel comfortable, but we will analyze and compare them.”
“The truth is that in Formula 1, coincidences are few, especially when it comes to struggling for two weekends in a row. So, we need to examine and analyze the situation. But we are seeing the numbers, so it means we have made a step forward. However, there are other limits that we need to examine to try to eliminate them.”
With the British Grand Prix so close—taking place next weekend at Silverstone—it will be difficult for Ferrari to remedy the limitations that have arisen in recent weeks. Leclerc is aware of this and is already setting expectations.
“I feel that Silverstone will be another difficult weekend for us. If we look at the last three weekends, we have struggled, so we haven’t yet found a solution to improve things.” – Scuderia Ferrari Monegasque driver Charles Leclerc concluded.
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