Since Formula 1 entered the new ground effect technical cycle, it’s important to distinguish the moment a team brings updates to the track from when it starts to benefit from them. Often these two moments coincide, but not always.
McLaren has been precise in this regard; every modification introduced to their car has immediately delivered the expected results. At Ferrari, the situation is currently different. There is confidence in the updates introduced in Barcelona, but so far, the results have not been seen. At Silverstone, there will be no new updates on the two SF-24s. The goal is to understand what is already on the car and optimize the existing package.
“Every time you bring a new package to the track, you have to make sure to optimize it as quickly as possible,” explained Charles Leclerc. “Otherwise, you fall behind while others improve. When we manage to fully exploit our package, we will make a step forward. It doesn’t make sense to give up on making progress; it is definitely a risk worth taking.” – he pointed out.
It made headlines to hear drivers talking about ‘bouncing’ again, but according to Charles Leclerc, it actually depends on how much you push in terms of setup.
“It’s not something that re-emerged with our update,” Charles Leclerc emphasized. “In the end, it’s a matter of where you want to place the car. If you push in one direction, you know you’ll face the risk of bouncing, but in that direction, there is also performance.”
“We want to keep working on this update to find the compromise that can guarantee us maximum performance. We are focusing on this objective. I believe we learned a lot in the last race. There was an opportunity to go on track with two very different configurations and setups. Now I hope that what we’ve done will help us tackle these issues starting tomorrow.” – he added.
Charles Leclerc’s optimism was striking, especially considering the rather bleak predictions he made about Silverstone on Sunday evening in Spielberg. In between, there was a day spent in the simulator (Monday in Maranello, then replaced by Carlos Sainz the following day) and a long debrief with the engineers: “It’s something that can be resolved in the short term,” added Charles Leclerc. “We already have some ideas on the direction we want to push. We saw some significant differences between the two cars in the last race. In the end, it’s about finding two-tenths. We saw the difference that such a small gap made in Austria.”
“I am confident that if we manage to make the progress we expect to make, we will be back fighting for victories,” continued Charles Leclerc. “We are talking about two or three tenths. At the moment we are only missing these to be at the front. I am sure that as soon as we manage to solve the problems we have, we will be with the others. I don’t know what has been lacking in the past few weeks, the package is there,” added number sixteen. “There is work to be done, but I am confident.” – the Ferrari driver concluded ahead of the British Grand Prix.
