Leclerc seeking "perfect balance" for 2022

Charles Leclerc has revealed he is seeking a "perfect balance" to manage his pace across an entire grand prix weekend this year rather than prioritising a race ahead of qualifying.

Leclerc qualified on the front two rows of the grid eight times in 2021 and scored pole positions in Monaco and Azerbaijan.

Despite this, the Ferrari driver failed to reach Q3 on four occasions, a fact he wishes to address in the coming year.

Asked where he had improved across the season, speaking at the end of last year, Leclerc replied: “Definitely the race management in general.

"Again, since, I think, early 2020 I began to say that this was one of my weaknesses, especially after 2019 where I had a lot of good qualifyings but then in the race, I was struggling a bit more.

"We were struggling a bit more as a team but also as a driver I could feel I was struggling more than others, so I put a lot of work into it.

"In 2020 I got much better and in 2021 I think it is actually one of my strengths now. I feel good and whenever we need to do some tyre management I feel I am doing a good job but there is still a lot more to work on.

"Maybe a balance from my qualifying to the race that I probably didn’t find yet and sometimes I sacrifice my qualifying a little bit more to be better in the race as we have seen a few times.

“It is a balance I am trying to work on to try and get the perfect balance between quali and the race.”

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