Monegasque Formula 1 driver Charles Leclerc has opened up about his thoughts on Ferrari’s 2024 season so far, with the bottom line being that he believes upgrades are urgently needed if the team is to gain a competitive edge on rivals Mercedes, Red Bull and McLaren.
Just over midway through the 2024 Formula 1 season, Scuderia Ferrari pilot Charles Leclerc has given his honest assessment on why he thinks his team is struggling despite a fairly strong start to the season.
“I feel like we are the fourth-fastest car at the moment,” said the 26-year-old Monegasque in an interview with formula1.com. “The first part of the year for us was, for the first half, pretty positive; the second half [we are] struggling a bit more, trying to fix the issues.”
He continued, “We are just going to try and recharge our batteries during the break, come back, try and analyse, and hopefully bring new parts as soon as possible on the car to be challenging for wins again.”
His solution to the team’s woes, and to regain traction against the Mercedes, McLaren and Red Bull teams, is to incorporate upgrades to the cars, as well as smooth out the hitches caused by the change to the floor that was introduced for the Spanish Grand Prix, which caused excessive bouncing at higher speeds.
See more: Update: Russell disqualification moves Leclerc up to P3 at Belgian Grand Prix
But while Leclerc’s views lean toward giving his team a “needs improvement” label, Ferrari Team Principal Frédéric Vasseur has a brighter outlook.
“Overall, it’s a much better start than 12 months ago,” said Vasseur to formula1.com. “It was a bit up and down. We had a good sequence and a bit more difficult sequence, but the most important [thing] is to score the points that you can score.”
Ferrari has collated 345 points this season, putting the team in third place behind the leading Red Bull side and second-placed McLaren.
Whatever the perspective, the fact is that the team have a bit of time to iron out any glitches before returning to action on 25th August for the Dutch Grand Prix on the Zandvoort Circuit.
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Photo credit: Scuderia Ferrari Media Centre