Scuderia Ferrari Monegasque driver Charles Leclerc admitted that he is not concerned regarding Red Bull’s recent pace and performance, as his title rival Max Verstappen dominated the last two rounds of the 2022 Formula 1 season, the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix and the Miami Grand Prix.
Despite the fact that Ferrari started the Miami Grand Prix from P1 and P2 with Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz, the Spaniard lost a position at the first corner, while Charles initially kept the lead of the race, but his chances of victory began to slip away as Max Verstappen had the pace to pass him after less than ten laps at the Miami International Autodrome.
From that moment, the 2021 Formula 1 world champion had a simple task of to score his third race win of the campaign, reducing Charles Leclerc’s advantage at the top of the World Championship standings even more, ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix, which takes place this weekend at the Circuit de Catalunya.
The Maranello team did not seem able to match the race pace of the RB18 at the Miami International Autodrome, despite the promising qualifying result, but this situation has not left Charles Leclerc overly worried, as the Monegasque driver confirmed: “The concern is not there,” – the Ferrari driver said, as the duel between the Italian side and Red Bull is set to continue – “Of course, they’ve been improving. I think we all expected them to be improving. They are a very strong team, and we are aware of this, so it’s not a surprise.” – he added.
At the same time, Charles Leclerc is confident that the Maranello team can hit back starting from the Spanish Grand Prix this weekend, as Ferrari will introduce its first set of updates which should significantly improve the F1-75 car: “I am also confident about my team, and I’m sure that we will bring upgrades that will [bring] us back to the top,” he continued – “We are working well, and we’ve been working very well in the past few years to come back on top, so I hope that those upgrades will help us to challenge them [Red Bull] again.”
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Asked to look back on the outcome of the Miami Grand Prix and whether there was at least ine moment in which he believed he could turn things around at the Miami International Autodrome and take the win for Ferrari, Charles Leclerc replied:
“Honestly, maybe just after the Safety Car, I thought that would have been probably an opportunity to go for it. There was no DRS (Drag Reduction System), so it made our life a bit difficult. But apart from that, on the Medium [tyre], I think it was pretty clear that they were stronger. On the Hard [tyre], I knew that we had the pace to challenge them. But, obviously with the gap that there was after the Medium stints, I knew that it was going to be very difficult to come back. But, with a Safety Car for two or three laps, I believed in it. After that, once the DRS was activated, it was already starting to be better and better for Max.” – Scuderia Ferrari Monegasque driver Charles Leclerc concluded.
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