“We have quite a bit in the locker,” Charles Leclerc optimistic about Ferrari’s chances during Jeddah qualifying
Charles Leclerc has revealed that Ferrari has got a bit more performance to exploit from its SF-23 in Saudi Arabia.
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Charles Leclerc (Credits: Planet F1)
Charles Leclerc, the Ferrari F1 driver, has talked about what has been going on in his team’s garage at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit. According to him, the Maranello-based team has got quite a lot up its sleeves as far as the upcoming qualifying and the race is concerned. Moreover, he has also put a halt to all the rumors of the team having reliability concerns again after Bahrain.
Charles Leclerc bowed out of the Bahrain Grand Prix in disappointing fashion. During the inaugural race of the 2023 season, the Monegasque faced an electrical issue on his SF-23 on lap 41 of the race, and thus, came away with zero points from the first race of the season. Carlos Sainz on the other hand managed a P4 finish.
Ahead of the FP1 session of the upcoming race, Ferrari changed the electronics unit on Leclerc’s car, which got him a 10-place grid penalty for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. However, despite the fix, the 25-year-old complained about mechanical problems during FP2. All that raised concerns regarding Ferrari, and Leclerc after the session addressed all the rumors.
While talking about his car, he said, “There was nothing wrong (with the engine or energy deployment). “There were a few events where I upshifted on kerbs or things like this which doesn’t put the engine in the best situation, so I complained to make sure everything was fine and everything is fine.”
Would Charles Leclerc and Co. be able to put on a strong showing in Bahrain?
While Charles Leclerc has revealed that there are no reliability concerns with his car, he has also made it known that he and Sainz can put on a strong performance during the Saudi Arabian weekend. In his opinion, there is untapped potential to exploit in the SF-23. Leclerc is banking on it to come away with strong points from the weekend.
While stressing about the SF-23’s potential, Leclerc said, “We have quite a bit in the locker. How much? Let’s see. I’m sure Red Bull also has something hidden, so we will see tomorrow, but I think it will be closer than what we see now. I don’t think we are that bad. Honestly, the feeling is pretty good but it’s very difficult to read into the performance because everyone is doing very different things with power, weight, etc.”
Leclerc is keeping a positive mindset ahead of the Saudi Arabian GP but has admitted, he is not sure what Ferrari’s rivals have got in their locker. He sees Red Bull and Max Verstappen as the main threat in Jeddah but believes, that its other rivals could also come with the goods.
Ferrari finished the FP3 session in P6 and P10 with Lecelrc and Sainz. Considering this fact, what would the duo be able to come up with during the all-important qualifying session of the Saudi Arabian GP? Would the Ferrari F1 team be able to force Red Bull to scratch their heads with its pace during qualifying?
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Rishabh Negi
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