Scuderia Ferrari Monegasque driver Charles Leclerc predicts the Maranello team will be back in contention for Formula 1 wins once the ongoing bouncing problem affecting their car is addressed.
Following an upgrade introduced at the Circuit de Catalunya in the Spanish Grand Prix, Ferrari’s performance has declined, with both Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz struggling with bouncing, a phenomenon dating back to the early days of the ground effect rules.
Since the Barcelona upgrade, Ferrari has managed only 52 points, while Red Bull, McLaren, and Mercedes have outperformed the Maranello team, securing wins.
With just two podiums since the Barcelona round, Charles Leclerc believes that resolving the bouncing issue will bring the SF-24 back into the competitive mix, as it was in the season’s early stages when it seemed the closest challenger to Red Bull’s RB20.
“I think when we erase our bouncing issue completely, we can find a really good level of performance. That is what has been slowing us down in the development race, and it is where we are focusing at the moment. Once the bouncing is gone, I think it will help us to make quite a big step forward. We have a plan, I’m not going go into too detail about it, but for sure we have different scenarios in mind and we will see what limitations or not we will have [on Friday]. Then we will make the right decisions with what we know, but I am pretty confident that we won’t have to change what we start with.” – Charles Leclerc explained, ahead of the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa.
The Italian side has encountered a lot of difficulties in terms and flying lap and therefore qualifying pace in the last few races, while the SF-24 race pace was superior, even strong at times in certain conditions. The Monegasque driver admitted that the SF-24 characteristics cannot be changes in the short-term.
“I don’t think we can change that tendency with the set-up, with upgrades you can change it because the issues that we are facing are more in qualifying running than the race. If we fix those issues, I am pretty sure that the qualifying pace will be better and so that is where our focus is and naturally I think it will get back to what we’ve seen in the last year.” – the Ferrari driver concluded.
