Despite Charles Leclerc’s retirement during the formation lap for the 2023 Formula 1 Brazilian Grand Prix, Scuderia Ferrari managed to gain a bit more ground (2 points) on Mercedes, reducing its deficit to second place in the Constructors’ Championship to 20 points. This was partly due to George Russell’s retirement, who, if not for a technical issue, would have surely finished in the top 10 at the Interlagos circuit last Sunday.
However, there isn’t much reason to celebrate in Maranello. Not only because facing reliability issues is never a good thing (and at Interlagos, considering the retirements of Alfa Romeo as well, it’s a cause for concern), but also because with two races to go, going home with a meager two-point gain isn’t much to boast about.
Charles Leclerc’s thoughts on the gap to Mercedes
Scuderia Ferrari Moneagsque driver Charles Leclerc is well aware of this, and in an interview published on ‘RacingNews365.com’ following the Brazilian Grand Prix, he made some remarks regarding the major deficits the Maranello team faces in comparison to Mercedes: “What we lack the most is race pace. Of course, we are also missing 20 points to beat them. This is what we should focus on in the short term.” – the Ferrari man pointed out.
“The first part of the season was mostly about experimenting with the best directions for the future, and from Zandvoort, we made significant progress. This makes me believe that we can close the gap to Mercedes. However, it’s much harder to say how close we are to doing it or when it will happen,” admits the Monegasque driver in his interview for the Dutch website.
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Mercedes? Charles Leclerc and Ferrari push to return to the top
At the same time, the 20-point gap to the German team is the least of Charles Leclerc’s concerns. With two races remaining in the 2023 Formula One season (Las Vegas and Abu Dhabi), the most sensible approach is to look positively towards the future. The specific outcome in 2023 matters little.
Scuderia Ferrari must return to peak performance, and Charles Leclerc knows what it takes: “Ferrari wants to return to the top. There are many points to recover to be the top team, especially against a Red Bull that is very strong at the moment. We are making all these efforts to get back to the level of performance we saw at the beginning of last year. We want to get back to competing for wins and championships,” – the Monegasque driver concluded.
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