Charles Leclerc, a driver from Monaco who races for Ferrari, expressed his disagreement with Lando Norris’ prediction that Ferrari could potentially defeat Red Bull in this weekend’s Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix. Red Bull has been dominating the competition since the introduction of ground effect cars in 2022 and started the current season with consecutive victories. However, Ferrari has stood out as the closest competitor to the Austrian team in the early stages of the 2024 season, with Leclerc and his teammate Carlos Sainz both achieving third-place finishes. Despite this, Leclerc believes that the gap to Red Bull is still too significant to realistically challenge for a victory based on pure speed. He remains optimistic about the team’s overall progress and ability to pressure Red Bull at certain circuits throughout the season, but acknowledges that a normal win is out of reach at the moment.
Leclerc dominated the weekend in Melbourne in 2022 to achieve his first grand slam in Formula 1, leading the race from pole position and also setting the fastest lap.
However, the Monaco driver had a difficult start to last season, retiring from the race on the first lap due to the unpredictable nature of the car he was driving.
With the introduction of a more stable SF-24 charger, Leclerc believes Ferrari’s goal is to increase the amount of downforce to match the performance of Red Bull’s RB20.
“Two years ago was a very successful weekend. Last year was much more challenging as the car’s characteristics didn’t suit the track very well. However, I believe that this year we will be consistently competitive,” he explained.
“It’s normal to have weekends where the setup is not optimized and you struggle a bit more.
“I will be surprised if there are clues where we come out significantly better or worse, because our package is much stronger.
“Last year, we had a lot of difficulties, especially with the car’s drivability. We were extremely sensitive to the wind direction and, whenever the wind was in a certain way, we had a lot of problems. But this year, that’s not the case.
“So, I think we will be more consistent, but now it depends on us finding more performance, because that’s what we are currently lacking, especially in the race compared to Red Bull.”
