Ferrari had a better start to the 2024 season than it experienced in the previous seasons. Last year, they did not have much luck going their way. The Maranello team fell three points short of Mercedes as they failed to win P2 in 2023. Despite their misfortunes, the Prancing Horse showed potential to be a worthy contender for the title next year. Moreover, the only non-Red Bull team to win a race in 2023 was Fred Vasseur’s team. Thanks to Carlos Sainz Jr., the Maranello-based team enjoyed a race victory in the previous season. Ferrari managed to break the streak of Red Bull and Max Verstappen in the Singaporean Grand Prix.
But it was hard for them to win anymore in 2023 because the Austrian outfit did not allow any other opportunities to its rivals. Moreover, Max Verstappen won all the races after the Singaporean GP last year. Coming to 2024, the Red Bull F1 team started brilliantly once again. They had a couple of one-two finishes at the very start of the 2024 season. Clearly, it is hard to beat the Milton Keynes team or even come close to them in the cost cap era. But Charles Leclerc, the Ferrari driver seems to believe they will be closer to Max and his team in China.
Leclerc Believes Ferrari Will Be Closer To Red Bull In China
Since the Prancing Horse had a better start to the new season, Charles Leclerc feels they can get closer to Red Bull and Max, who has already won three races in 2024. But the Italian team managed to get a win in Australia this year. Max Verstappen had a DNF in Melbourne owing to brake issues. As a result, the two Ferrari drivers – Carlos Sainz Jr. and Charles Leclerc took the full advantage of it and had a one-two finish. That’s the first one for Ferrari this year. Now, can they repeat it next weekend? It will be the first sprint race of the 2024 season. Since 2019, F1 will have their first Chinese GP this year after a long gap because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Lately, Leclerc said, as per GPblog.com, that the gap between Ferrari and Red Bull will start diminishing on race day. But the Monegasque racer also talked about racing in Shanghai after five years. Hence, it is essential to know how the car will behave on the particular track. Nevertheless, on paper, Charles Leclerc believes the track in Shanghai will present conditions favorable for Scuderia Ferrari. The previous race in Japan did not present the Maranello team with favorable conditions. But Leclerc believes Shanghai will be different from Suzuka. Albeit, he said the team will maintain the same approach.
Nevertheless, Charles Leclerc Feels Red Bull Will Have The Upper Hand Next Weekend
Something that the F1 drivers keep on learning is that qualifying sessions and the final races can seem very different. Leclerc said, in some races, drivers can go down from fourth to fifth and in some other cases, they can go down to eighth from fourth. Something like that happened to them in the Japanese Grand Prix. They would not want to repeat it in China. There will be a couple of qualifying sessions in Shanghai. Hence, Leclerc feels it is important to focus on our own car and its performance.
But the Monegasque driver thinks Red Bull will have the upper hand in China. The Austrian outfit has been the most consistent team in the last few years. But Leclerc thinks in the race, the Prancing Horse is quite strong this year. They currently hold the second place in the constructor standings with 120 points. Carlos Sainz is four points behind Leclerc, as the Maranello drivers hold the third and fourth place in the driver’s standings at the moment.
Stay tuned with http://www.sportsnewsinternational.com/ for more such updates about your favorite F1 team.
