Charles Leclerc sees ‘positive signs’ but admits ‘we can’t expect miracles’ from SF21. Charles on the new season.

Charles Leclerc on the main difference between SF1000 and SF21:
Charles Leclerc: “I think the balance of the car has been improved quite a bit. The handling is better this year. The technical regulations prevent us from doing whatever we want on the car. Therefore the SF21 is not a revolution but rather an evolution of the SF1000. We will try to improve on last year, but there will be no miracles. We have to be realistic: although I am hoping for it, I don’t think we will fight for the championship in 2021. It is still very early to talk about the performance of the SF21. When I was talking about bringing Ferrari back to the top, it was a rather medium/long term objective. I wasn’t talking directly about 2021. It was not easy to do everything in just three test days, but it is the same for everyone. I think we used the three days in the best possible way. We did a lot of kilometers. It was the best preparation possible.”

Charles on the difficult 2020 season: “It was important for me to prove that even in a difficult season like that, I gave my best on track. Yes, there were mistakes and it won’t be the last ones for sure, but I learned a lot. Every time I do a mistake, I analyse why and what I have to do, so that it won’t happen again. So I learned a lot in 2020 (smiles).”

Charles on targets for 2021: “My objective remains exactly the same as before. I always have to give 200% when I’m in the car, bringing the car to the highest as possible. That was the case last year and it is still the case. My mentality hasn’t changed, my motivation remains the same. The team has to fight for wins and at the very least for podiums. This gives me a lot of motivation to try to push everyone in Maranello, to work in the right direction & to get back to where we want to be, which is in a winning position. We’ve caught up a little bit but we can’t expect miracles. There are positive signs, a lot of good work has been done, but it won’t be enough to get back to the level of 2019. We can’t forget where Ferrari was last year. In F1, everything takes time..”