Leclerc: “Consistency can still make Ferrari a champion, even if it’s tough.”
Charles Leclerc acknowledges that Ferrari lacks the raw speed to compete with McLaren but hopes consistency will keep them in the fight.
Ferrari’s driver admits that the team doesn’t have the pace to challenge McLaren for this year’s Constructors’ Championship. However, he believes they can still remain competitive through consistency. McLaren is currently the form team in F1, positioned ahead of Ferrari after a strong showing in recent races. With six races left, McLaren sits 31 points ahead of Red Bull, while Ferrari trails Red Bull by 34 points in third.
Despite McLaren’s strong performance, particularly Lando Norris’ dominance at the Singapore Grand Prix, Leclerc refuses to give up. After finishing fifth in Singapore, he stated, “If we continue to be consistent and don’t miss too many opportunities, we can still have a shot at the Constructors’ Championship.”
However, he added, “In terms of raw speed, I don’t think we’re at a level to fight for the Constructors’ Championship just yet. I don’t see ourselves in the thick of the battle, but if they make mistakes, we could still be in contention.”
Leclerc emphasizes the need for caution regarding Ferrari’s strong performances in the last three races in Monza, Baku, and Singapore, noting that these races did not fully test whether the team has resolved the bouncing issue that has plagued them since summer in high-speed corners.
“While the last two races were good, we need to be careful not to have unrealistic expectations because McLaren still has a slightly better car than us. There will be tracks where we’ll be close and others where we won’t. Before this race, we were quite close, and we may never have had the fastest car, except maybe in Monaco, but we were quite strong in Monza.”
Carlos Sainz, Leclerc’s teammate, who crashed in Q3 and finished seventh after starting tenth, stated that if McLaren is too far ahead, their aim will be to position Red Bull in second place.
“McLaren is definitely in a strong position and is the favorite to win the championship. We still have Red Bull in our sights, and of course, McLaren, if they start having issues… So, we need to keep ourselves in the mix.”
When asked if beating Red Bull for second place would be a satisfactory result for the Maranello team, Sainz replied, “It would show that the team has demonstrated good resilience after a tough period with significant points and development losses this year. However, Red Bull will come back strongly at the end of the season after understanding what went wrong with their car, so beating them won’t be easy.”
