Scuderia Ferrari Monegasque driver Charles Leclerc confirmed that his Friday practice sessions at the Baku City Circuit ahead of the 2022 Azerbaijan Grand Prix has left him feeling confident about the Maranello team’s prospects for this weekend and feels Ferrari will be able to challenge Red Bull not only in qualifying but also on race day.
Charles Leclerc and Ferrari seemed to be behind their title rivals after FP1 in Baku, with Red Bull’s Sergio Perez in front of the standings.
However, the Monégasque driver hit back in the second free practice session in Azerbaijan and ended the day on top of the timesheets.
While Ferrari is confident it has the upper hand in qualifying, it was the race pace that has caused a lot of problems for the Maranello team this season, but Charles Leclerc looks ahead to the rest of the weekend with confidence:
“We’ve had a good Friday. Overall, we’ve improved from FP1 to FP2 but we still have a step that we need to take for tomorrow,” he said, after Friday practice – “There are still quite a lot of question marks but the positive to take away from today is that the tyre degradation was good and the race pace is very strong, so that is good.” – he added.
During his final laps on Friday Charles Leclerc expressed his frustration over the team radio due to what he felt was a power unit issue. His Ferrari race engineer then reassured him that there was no problem, a response which for a short moment left the Monegasque confused.
Explaining this incident, Charles said: “It was no power unit problem, it was me who forgot that I’d changed something. There was nothing [wrong] there.”
Another power unit issue this weekend would make things even more difficult in the title battle with Red Bull given the fact that Max Verstappen is currently leading the World Championship while Sergio Perez is not far behind.
When asked if the strong race pace he is predicting from Ferrari for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix could help him take back the lead in the standings, Charles Leclerc added: “I hope so, whether it will be this weekend, I don’t know. If we do everything right, I think we will take it back at some stage.” – Scuderia Ferrari Charles Leclerc concluded.
Leave a Reply