In a recent interview for German automobile magazine ‘Auto Motor und Sport’, Scuderia Ferrari Monegasque driver Charles Leclerc was asked about the 2022 Formula 1 season and the key differences between the Maranello team and Red Bull, which led to the Austrian side winning the battle for both championships. The interview was done before the news regarding Mattia Binotto’s replacement.
Here is the full interview:
Your battles with Verstappen were “clean”. Does that have to do with the fact that you come from the same generation?
Charles Leclerc: “We know each other very well. But I don’t think that was the reason why it was quieter between us. So it was more down to the nature of the championship. If we fight to the end in 2023, I believe that a tougher battle will be played out.”
You experienced two winless years with Ferrari. In 2022, you returned to winning ways. A success? Or a failure, because you didn’t win the title?
Charles Leclerc: “I’m exactly in the middle. Part of me is looking at the big picture. We took a big step from 2021 to this season. We’ve done an incredible job with performance. I don’t think many thought we could even compete for wins. On the other hand, it’s disappointing because we had the performance in the car to win more races.”
Is Ferrari sometimes criticised too harshly after mistakes because it’s Ferrari?
Charles Leclerc: “I don’t know. But I don’t care about that either. We shouldn’t care about what others think. Our job is to think about where we can improve. And that‘s pretty clear. We need to improve our performance on Sunday and how we handle the races.”
Is the team self-critical?
Charles Leclerc: “Yes. And I am part of it. I’m not a driver who criticises harshly in public. But in internal meetings I push my team forward. That’s my job. If I make mistakes, I address it. If the team makes mistakes, that has to be on the table too.”
You always admit your mistakes very openly. Where does that come from?
Charles Leclerc: “That’s how I work. I admit when I have made mistakes. I don’t mind, because everyone makes them. It becomes wrong when you want to hide your mistakes. Because then you don’t grow from them. As soon as I have made a mistake, I am confident that I will come out of it stronger.”
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How hard is it to read these tyres?
Charles Leclerc: “Very tricky. In qualifying they have a very narrow window. If you are just a little bit over or under, it makes a big difference. In the race it’s also difficult. I experienced that in Singapore. I pushed behind a car for five or six laps and then fell behind. Then it‘s very difficult to keep up. So, it’s very much about managing those gaps in the race. Managing the gap to the front and how hard you push.”
How do you take care of the rear tyres in an oversteering car?
Charles Leclerc: “You have more control with an oversteering car. At least that’s how I see it. You steer and the car does exactly what you tell it to do. In an understeering car, I feel like a passenger who doesn’t have much to do. The car simply doesn’t steer in the middle of the corner. Idk what to do. I prefer to be in control at all times. Even if that means the car is sometimes a bit more difficult to drive. Yes, sometimes you use the rear tyres more. But for me, it’s the fastest way around a track.”
These new cars favour oversteer. You like that. We hear you hate understeer.
Charles Leclerc: “I really hate it. We did a really good job there in winter testing and quickly focused on balance – making the car oversteer a little bit more. I like that. We had all the tools over the season to strengthen the front axle.”
How did it happen that you were one step ahead of teammate Sainz this season? Was it because of the new cars? Or did you make some changes?
Charles Leclerc: “I changed a few things. The way I work. The way I discipline myself at home. It was a bit freestyle last year. Whenever I was at home, I did a thousand things. To be honest, in 2021, I was very tired from the middle of the season until the end. That affected me and had an impact on the performance. It’s also possible that this car suits me better. We had a great winter test, where we tried a lot of things. We had a big focus on how I can drive the car. That helped me start the season on a high level. I was able to concentrate on the details.”
Did Ferrari lose more due to the technical directive from Belgium?
Charles Leclerc: “We don’t think so. There is a temporal connection between the introduction and our loss of speed. But to be honest, we don’t think it has anything to do with that. We think that Red Bull introduced some parts at Spa that made them faster. Especially when you compare it with other teams. It’s not that we became slower in relation to them. It just seems that Red Bull became faster.”
If you compare the corners: Where is Ferrari better, where Red Bull?
Charles Leclerc: “I think we are very strong in medium and fast corners. In slow corners, it’s been up and down over the season. On the straights and in the slow corners, Red Bull probably has advantages.”
Red Bull had a very fast car on the straights. Did that sometimes drive Ferrari into unwanted compromises with the setup?
Charles Leclerc: “They are very strong on the straights. At the beginning of the season we were able to make up the deficit because we were faster in the corners. Then they made a step in the corners and were just faster than us. But again: I don’t think the biggest problem is tyre wear. We were not good enough to put in a perfect Sunday – for example with the strategy. When I look at the whole season, I think we had the performance to fight for the title. We didn’t do it..”
Ferrari’s poles showed that the speed was there. But the tyre wear got worse. What went wrong from Spa onwards?
Charles Leclerc: “When you lack speed, you have to push more as a driver. That increases tyre wear. So, from my point of view, it was more because we had to push harder because we didn’t have the expected pace compared to Red Bull. The indirect result is that you have more tyre wear. At the beginning of the season we had a better race car in comparison. This allowed us to divide the races more to our liking.”
At the beginning, the F1-75 had the biggest working window. In the middle of the season, things turned in Red Bull’s favour. What happened?
Charles Leclerc: “I think Red Bull, especially after the summer break, has made a step forward for some reason. Especially with Max. Not so much with Sergio. In the second part of the season, especially in the race, they were very, very fast.”
The season started with two wins in three races. Then Max Verstappen took over. When did you feel that the championship was slipping away from you?
Charles Leclerc: “I believed it until late in the season. You have to do that. In the first few races they Red Bull had a couple of upgrades that put them a bit ahead of us. The frustrating part came when we got an upgrade and had the fastest car again. The new parts in Barcelona really pushed us forward. We just didn’t make enough of it. In Barcelona, the engine broke down. In Monaco we made a strategy mistake. In Baku the next engine failure happened. Then the engine penalty in Canada. The pace was there to win races, but we didn’t deliver. That was hard to accept.”
If you could eliminate one weakness: What would it be?
Charles Leclerc: “We have to find a way to be as fast as Red Bull on the straights!”
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