Ferrari, Charles Leclerc fails to smile: the blow to the team

A tentative optimism returns, but there is no shortage of a jab at the team.

Charles Leclerc finished sixth in the Sprint Race at Interlagos, but will start fifth in the Sao Paulo Grand Prix. Impossible, however, not to return to the strategy error in Friday’s qualifying. “For sure yesterday was a situation that shows the fact that we have to improve a lot. Today we paid the price for that mistake, and I hope that tomorrow we will have a quiet race,” the Ferrari driver admitted to ‘Sky Sport’.

However, the feelings after the Sprint Race are good. “The pace was good, I felt comfortable with the car,” Leclerc explained. “At the beginning of the race, however, we lost a lot of time. The focus was on not taking risks in this Sprint Race, because obviously any mistake we would have paid dearly tomorrow. It was a waiting race in the first part, but then when we pushed the feeling was good. So I hope we can take these good feelings to the track tomorrow, to get back a little bit further in front.”

There is one aspect, however, on which Leclerc further called out Ferrari. “The indications are positive. The only thing we maybe need to look at is the tire performance in the first phase of the race. We need to find a way to improve it and find the ideal temperature first, apart from that everything else is fine,” he indeed said.