Charles Leclerc reveals the weakness that held back Ferrari from fighting Red Bull at Saudi Arabian GP

The weekend in Saudi Arabia was dominated by Max Verstappen, who was in a league of his own. On the contrary, Ferrari appeared to be Red Bull’s strongest competitor but finished more than 18 seconds behind the Dutchman. Subsequently, Charles Leclerc has revealed the problem slowing the prancing horses down.

In Bahrain, the 26-year-old had revealed that the SF-24 had a problem. However, in Saudi Arabia, Leclerc qualified on the front row and split the Red Bull pair of Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez. Furthermore, the Monegasque claimed his first podium under the Arabian night. Despite standing on the podium, Charles Leclerc believed Ferrari was still far behind the Austrian Giants.

Moreover, the 26-year-old felt that the car didn’t light up its tyres as well as the Red Bulls and presented his views on the same:

It was more about tyre warm-up and we struggled a bit more to bring them to the right temperature in order to push. This made it also a bit more difficult because I had to overtake cars during my warm-up, and that was a bit trickier for us than for them. That's where they pulled the gap, which then stayed more or less stable towards the end, but that was too late for us to put them under any pressure.

Charles Leclerc said as reported by Racingnews365

The five-time winner elaborated on the car’s weak characteristics in warming up his tyres. On the contrary, the tyre warm-up was the strong ability of the SF-24’s predecessor. Despite the promising characteristics of its predecessor, Leclerc has found out that the 2024 car cannot generate heat in the tyres which may be the reason for his average or below-par getaways from the lights out in 2024.

Charles Leclerc on the possibility of Ferrari bringing upgrades to Melbourne

After the race in Saudi Arabia, Leclerc had some complaints regarding the 2024 challenger. Fans across the paddock have speculated that Ferrari may bring a few upgrades to bring their title hopes back on track. However, the Monegasque thinks otherwise about the possibility of his team bringing any upgrades to Australia.

While addressing the media regarding whether Ferrari will bring any upgrades to Melbourne, Leclerc stated:

I don’t think we’ll have many things new in Melbourne. But I think we are doing a good job by maximising our package at the moment. So that’s where we are. I think we’ll probably have to wait and see whenever we have new parts to the car, what kind of step we do forward. Hopefully that will bring us closer to Red Bull.

Charles Leclerc said as reported by Racefans

The Monegasque has made it known that he doesn’t expect any new upgrades to be introduced at the Australian GP. Moreover, teams have emphasised the floor edges and side pods throughout the winter break. Subsequently, it was anticipated that Ferrari would be diving deeper into the aerodynamic concepts and may have an upgrade ready for the upcoming race.

Apart from this, Leclerc had a successful weekend in Saudi Arabia and would be the closest rival to the Austrian giant during this year’s races. Moreover, fans worldwide would be hoping for the gap to close up between the two teams and witness a great battle between the two titans of the sport.

In case you missed it:

• Should F1 ban Kevin Magnussen’s blocking strategy from the Saudi Arabian GP?
• Helmut Marko claims Ferrari is ‘getting closer’ to Red Bull with each passing Grand Prix

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