In a recent interview for the Italian version of the Motorsport website, Scuderia Ferrari Monegasque driver Charles Leclerc revealed what he liked the most about the Maranello team’s F1-75 challenger in the 2022 Formula 1 season:
“Personally, the aspect I liked most is having a strong front end.” – the Ferrari driver explained – “At the beginning of the season the insertion [at the front end] was just what I like. In the start of the championship, our car in general was better than Red Bull. Then they took steps forward, we saw what they brought to the track on so many weekends, and from our side this led to a difference in performance between qualifying and the race. At the moment I think the points where we need to improve are tyre management, communication, strategy and reliability, an issue the latter of which we had to deal with in the first half of the season and which we had to manage.I think in terms of communication and strategy we have made progress, especially in the last few races, the team has done a great job on these aspects and I have seen progress. It hasn’t always been obvious because in some cases the right choices are less obvious, but I know that is the case. As far as tyre management is concerned we know what we are missing, and on some fronts I am already seeing progress..” – the Monegasque driver added, according to Motorsport Italy.
When asked about how it felt to race against Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen, Charles Leclerc confirmed that he liked to compete on track against all the top drivers in the sport, but at the same time he pointed out that he does not agree with rankings about what driver is better:
“To be honest, I don’t like these rankings.” – he admitted – “Lewis is different for me, he has a lot of experience and was already an established Formula 1 driver when I was a kid, while with Max we grew up together and we have faced each other many times already in karting. I like comparing myself on the track with them. I know Max well, and when I’ve battled with Lewis I’ve always had a sense of his experience, he knows what he’s doing. They are two completely different styles, but to answer your question, I won’t answer the question.” – the Ferrari driver continued.
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Charles Leclerc secured three race wins in the 2022 Formula 1 season and took other several podium finishes, but after a positive start to the championship (with victories in Australia and Bahrain), the Monegasque driver was not able to challenge Max Verstappen for the title, due to reliability issues for the F1-75 car, some poor strategical decisions made by the Maranello team’s pit wall and Ferrari’s inability to keep up with Red Bull’s constant development of its RB18 car. Would Charles have signed for these results ahead of the start of the season:
“No, I wouldn’t have.” – the Monegasque driver replied – “Because I would only sign for winning the world championship! But I would have been suspicious of this prediction, as 2020 and 2021 were two difficult years and to confirm a leap forward in performance like we did was the result of a lot of hard work. As the season goes on you tend to forget that, but last year there were weekends when finishing P7 was considered a good result. Today we always aim high, it didn’t always go as we wanted, but we are working to improve.” – Scuderia Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc concluded.
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