Given how the beginning of the 2023 Formula One season has gone, there is reason to celebrate for Charles Leclerc after finishing third in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix at the Baku City Circuit. However, for an ambitious driver like the Monegasque, the need is to look ahead, not behind: Ferrari has improved in race pace, but still needs to progress a lot to reach the level of Red Bull, as demonstrated by how easily Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez overtook him in the early stages of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
Charles Leclerc knows this, and that’s why he can’t be 100% satisfied following a in which he and the SF-23 car gave 100% (and even more).
Red Bull on a different level
“It feels good to at least finish a race with some points, because since the start of the season, it has not always been very positive. But Red Bull is in a different category when it comes to the race, our best lap in qualifying allowed us to start ahead but they have much more pace and they overtook us immediately. They have found something that we still lack, but we are working hard to improve and already today there was a better feeling with the car. However, we do not know how much we have actually approached them. I still believe” – Charles Leclerc pointed out.
“There will be nothing that stops me from dreaming, because I will continue to believe. Certainly, after a race like this, it is understood that there is still a lot of work to do. Perhaps we have taken some steps forward, but there are still giant steps to take to reach the level of Red Bull. Even Aston Martin has a better car than ours in race mode, but this weekend we did everything perfectly,” said the Monegasque to Sky Sport F1.
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Nothing more could be done in Baku
“There was not a session in which I can say that we did not maximize everything we had, except for the second lap in the final phase of the Sprint Shootout,” continued Charles Leclerc. “It was a very good weekend in terms of maximizing the result, but there is still a lot of work to do. We can do whatever we want, but we are still not fast enough. On the flying lap, you can still make a difference because you take more risks, but what we lost yesterday at the end of the race, we lost today at the beginning of the GP because we had to manage the tire: we still lack performance in certain points of the race because we are still not fast enough. I am confident for the updates that will come, I know how good the team is and I am sure we are working in the right direction, but I don’t know if it will be enough to close the gap with Red Bull.” – the Ferrari driver admitted at the end of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
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