Improvements show Ferrari can come back fighting in 2021 - Leclerc

Charles Leclerc believes the improvements Ferrari have shown in the last two races prove the Italian giants have what it takes to come back fighting after a considerable slump in form this season.

Leclerc finished fifth in the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix at Imola after losing out to Daniil Kvyat in the latter stages of the race, although the Monégasque managed to fend off a surging Sergio Perez who had fitted a set of new soft tyres.

Even though the Scuderia is still off the pace of Mercedes and Red Bull, Leclerc has insisted the team is heading in the right direction after a series of small upgrades.

“The most positive thing in the last three to four weekends [is that] we’ve brought small steps all the time but always in the right direction,” said Leclerc.

“[But] whenever we’ve had an issue we’ve analysed it and seemed to get it better the race after, so to see this progress and the way that once we analyse something we manage to get better at it is a good sign for the future.

"We obviously need to continue that way, there is still a long road ahead."

On whether the improvements will allow the team to battle at the front next season, Leclerc explained: “We are still quite limited by the things we can do for next year.

"But if we use them all in a good way then hopefully the upgrades we have brought for next year will be enough to be fighting.”

Leclerc has now scored points in the last five races and although his result at Imola came up short of his fourth-place finish at the previous round in Portugal, he conceded: “Before the race, if you’d told me I would finish P5 I would be very happy.

"We were quite worried about our pace on the softs, especially at the beginning of the race.

“This went a lot better than we expected because I think we were a bit quicker than Daniel [Ricciardo] towards the end so we managed them well, but looking back at the race I believe there was a bit more here and there.

“I would probably have hoped to stay a bit longer on that soft but it’s the way it is now the race is done. It’s a good surprise to be fighting so far up so I am satisfied with P5.“

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