Charles Leclerc has reflected on the challenges faced at the start of this season, looking ahead to the next event in Shanghai, which will mark the return of the Chinese Grand Prix to the calendar.
An extremely determined Charles Leclerc is gearing up to face the fourth GP of the season, eager to redeem himself after the Suzuka weekend, where he once again finished behind Carlos Sainz. The number 16 suffered from a poor qualifying session on Saturday, which only allowed him to climb back to fourth position despite showing great pace with both tire compounds over all 53 laps.
Despite this, Charles Leclerc can still be somewhat pleased with the start of his season, currently ranking as the leading pursuer of the Red Bull duo, with his teammate just four points behind.
Turning his attention to the Chinese stage during the launch of LEC, a new ice cream-themed project in collaboration with the founders of Grom, Charles Leclerc declared himself ready to fight for victory if the opportunity arises: “What’s missing is the victory, which is what interests me.” – he explained.
“In the end, no one cares about second place, so it’s important for me to get to China. If we have the opportunity to win, I must take it.”
Reflecting on the first three races, Charles Leclerc expressed satisfaction with the progress made over the winter, but emphasized that the work to catch up to Red Bull remains significant: “The start of the season has been very positive and we are in a positive spiral. There’s still a lot of work to do. Just because we’ve had good results doesn’t mean we can relax. On the contrary, it motivates us to give even more.”
A lot of work has also been done to resolve the issues that led him to struggle in qualifying at the last two events in Melbourne and Suzuka: “I especially struggled in the last two qualifiers, so there’s been a lot of work before coming here to Milan.” – he pointed out.
“I spent three days in Maranello doing a lot of simulator work, trying to understand how to get these tires to work, which I’ve struggled with in the last two GPs.”
“But as I said, every time I’ve worked on something, I’ve improved. The goal is to get to China, it will be a sprint weekend. Two qualifiers, two races, lots of points to take, and I will be ready.”
As is widely known, Scuderia Ferrari will not introduce significant updates between Shanghai and Miami, while the first major package is expected for the home race at Imola, which will also coincide with the start of the European season.
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