Charles Leclerc: “Sainz is simply doing a better job than me in the last few races”
Charles Leclerc believes that his performance deficit against Ferrari teammate Carlos Sainz in recent races is simply due to the Spaniard's better weekend execution.
We can say that Carlos Sainz is having a fantastic start to the season. Since his return after his appendicitis operation, which prevented him from participating in the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, Sainz has outperformed his teammate Charles Leclerc in Australia and Japan, and won the race in Melbourne from second place on the grid.
The Monegasque also finished behind his teammate in both races, coming second in the Australian Grand Prix and fourth behind Sainz, who finished on the podium in Suzuka.
When asked if Sainz had adapted more quickly to the 2024 Ferrari, Leclerc stated that his teammate had simply performed at a higher level in the last two races.
« I think he is doing a better job. I think in Bahrain, it’s difficult to compare because from my side I was facing problems and I think it was a very tough weekend besides that. However, in the last two races, he has just been stronger. It’s up to me now to work, especially on the pace of qualifying, which is normally a strength. »
« I had a hard time completing the lap, it’s a very fine line to either succeed or completely miss the final turn and get the tires in the right window », he explains.
« For now, I’ve had more difficulties than Carlos, he drivers at a very high level. I’ve worked a lot on it. And usually, when I work on these points, I am confident enough to improve fairly quickly.
Charles Leclerc determined to win in China
In anticipation of the weekend and the demands of the Shanghai circuit, Leclerc expected Ferrari to be closer to Red Bull than it had been in Suzuka, the fast and technical Japanese circuit having exploited the strengths of the RB20.
Charles Leclerc is very motivated to come back strong. I am not worried, but I obviously have to show it on track, starting from tomorrow in qualifying.
« On paper, I think it’s a track where we could be a little stronger compared to Suzuka, but we will just approach it the same way, I still think Red Bull will have the upper hand this weekend, he adds.
« We will just have to focus on ourselves because it can be very easy [to make mistakes], as we saw particularly during the qualifying session at Suzuka. I didn’t do a good job on Saturday and then you don’t go from fourth to fifth, but from fourth to eighth.
« I think that during the race, we will be [closer]. But let’s see, it’s been a very long time since we drove here. I saw that the track was painted, or that there was something strange on it, so we will also have to see how our car behaves on it, and what are the main limitations of the race.
