Charles Leclerc prefers to be the chased rather than the hunter!

Current leader of the driver’s championship after five races, with a 19-point advantage over his direct rival Max Verstappen, it is clear that Charles Leclerc is having a very good start to the season. Well assisted by a well-born F1-75 that seemed superior to the others when arriving in Bahrain for the first Grand Prix of the season, the recent races have finally demonstrated that Red Bull, without its reliability issues, was indeed on par, or even above, the Scuderia in pure performance.

Went from a 46 to 19-point lead over Verstappen in just two races, Leclerc sees the threat getting closer while on track the Red Bull seems more comfortable lately. In response, Ferrari has confirmed through Mattia Binotto that upgrades will be introduced in Barcelona, as improvements have already arrived on the RB18.

Leclerc gave his impressions on this performance duel against the Austrian team. « In the race, we need to react, especially on the softer tires. On the mediums and the softs, it seems that for the past two races, in terms of race pace, they seem to be a little stronger and better at managing these tires. In qualifying, we have always managed to get these tires in the right window, which helps us, but on long stints, we suffer a bit more than them. […] For now, it seems that Red Bull has the advantage in the race. »

But despite this slight performance delay, Leclerc remains optimistic as he still holds the leading position in the championship. « I think we have only been in one position since the beginning of this season, which means we are being chased at the moment. I quite like this position, to be honest, because it means you are doing something right, but it is also true that the gap has been slowly narrowing for the last two races. But no matter the position I am in, I simply want to be the most competitive possible. »