Leclerc thinks gap between Mercedes and Ferrari is misleading
Leclerc thinks gap between Mercedes and Ferrari is misleading
Charles Leclerc reckons that the current state of the Formula 1 championship rankings doesn’t tell the full story of how the season has gone so far, saying things aren’t “as bad the championship looks” with regards to the gap between Mercedes and Ferrari.
After the opening four races in Australia, Bahrain, China, and Azerbaijan, the Scuderia have a 74-point deficit to Mercedes in the constructor rankings, while Lewis Hamilton and Valtteri Bottas comfortably lead in the driver’s.
Ecclestone makes Leclerc admission: I was wrongRead more
Ferrari have displayed fleeting moments of impressive pace, however, and Leclerc is keen for them to become more common.
“I don’t think it is as bad as the championship looks,” he said.
“Obviously we have had two opportunities, once I did a mistake, on the other one we had an issue that cost us a better result. But overall I think the performance is there we just need to try to put everything together in most of the occasions to be using our full potential.”
The next race on the calendar is the Spanish Grand Prix on Sunday at the Circuit de Catalunya - the location where Ferrari looked incredibly fast in testing in the summer.
Leclerc believes that the gap in performance between themselves and Mercedes in exaggerated, though.
“I think Mercedes were not that far [behind] even in testing in Barcelona,” the Monegasque driver continued.
“The last day [was] the only day where they actually pushed a little bit and in the last laps they did a very similar lap time to ours.
“So I don’t think they were ever very far away, and we don’t even know how much they pushed in the last day of testing. It’s not right to say that we were a lot for ahead after testing.
“Hopefully the improvements we’ve brought here put us a step forward and then we’ll see for the rest of the season. Normally Barcelona is quite representative track for the performance of the car so hopefully we’re strong here.”
Related
Change your timezone:
Latest News
Haas announce Hulkenberg EXIT as F1 star's new team confirmed
- 1 hour ago
F1 team set to axe BOTH star drivers
- 30 minutes ago
Red Bull to lose F1 MVP as true cost of Horner saga hits
- 2 hours ago
F1 pundit reveals the thing about Wolff that ANNOYS Horner
- 3 hours ago
Newey exit DATE revealed as Red Bull F1 chief set to leave
- Today 08:27
F1 News Today: Red Bull star set to QUIT team as F1 legend reveals flood of death threats
- Today 06:27
Related news
When can Lewis Hamilton win the F1 world title?
Schumacher says F1 title race is over despite Verstappen form
Red Bull need Mercedes 'f**k up' for title chance
Toto Wolff backing Ferrari for success in Belgium
F1 Standings
Drivers
- Oliver Bearman
- Charles Leclerc
- Carlos Sainz
- Lando Norris
- Oscar Piastri
- Pierre Gasly
- Esteban Ocon
- Sergio Pérez
- Max Verstappen
- Alexander Albon
- Logan Sargeant
- Lewis Hamilton
- George Russell
- Nico Hülkenberg
- Kevin Magnussen
- Fernando Alonso
- Lance Stroll
- Valtteri Bottas
- Zhou Guanyu
- Daniel Ricciardo
- Yuki Tsunoda
Races
- Gulf Air Grand Prix of Bahrain 2024
- Saudi Arabian Grand Prix 2024
- Grand Prix of Australia 2024
- MSC Cruises Grand Prix of Japan 2024
- Grand Prix of China 2024
- Miami Grand Prix 2024
- Gran Premio dell'Emilia Romagna 2024
- Grand Prix of Monaco 2024
- Grand Prix du Canada 2024
- Gran Premio de España 2024
- Grand Prix of Austria 2024
- Grand Prix of Great Britain 2024
- Grand Prix of Hungary 2024
- Grand Prix of Belgium 2024
- Heineken Dutch Grand Prix 2024
- Grand Prix of Italy 2024
- Grand Prix of Azerbaijan 2024
- Grand Prix of Singapore 2024
- Grand Prix of the United States 2024
- Gran Premio de la Ciudad de Mexico 2024
- Grande Prêmio de São Paulo 2024
- Heineken Silver Las Vegas Grand Prix 2024
- Qatar Grand Prix 2024
- Grand Prix of Abu Dhabi 2024
About GPFans
GPFans is a multi-platform, multi-language brand dedicated to Formula One coverage. We bring you all the ins and outs of the sport, 24/7, everything from up-to-the-minute news and features to the latest viral stories and clips.We believe that a new generation of exciting, outspoken drivers will make F1 more popular than ever before, and we want to give our users access to as much of their heroes as possible, on and off the track. From Lewis Hamilton to Max Verstappen, Daniel Ricciardo to Sebastian Vettel, we provide in-depth analysis of every every Grand Prix in the season, from Australia to Abu Dhabi.
With Formula One under the new ownership of Liberty Media, how the sport is being covered is evolving, and GPFans will look to be at the heart of this progression into new media, as one of the fastest-growing sites covering the king of motorsports.
Follow us on your favorite social media channel
Corporate & Media
Innovatieweg 20C7007 CD, Doetinchem, Netherlands
+31645516860