Charles Leclerc believes that finishing in third place behind Red Bulls in Sunday’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix was the most Ferrari could have achieved as they are still not fast enough to win. The Monegasque, who secured his team’s first podium appearance in the F1 season, started from pole position and finished second in Saturday’s sprint from the same grid slot. However, he was unable to stay ahead of Red Bulls for more than three laps.
Leclerc said, “That was the absolute maximum I could do today, or that we could do as a team. (The) strategy was really good, everything was really good but we just don’t have enough pace in the car today to fight with the Red Bulls. And also Aston Martin seems to have a stronger race car than we do. It was a good effort to stay in front of Fernando (Alonso) but at the end it’s like this. The reality is we have a lot of work to do to be back for the win.”
Leclerc had a total of six points from the first three races, but managed to increase it to 28 points after the Azerbaijan Grand Prix. His Spanish teammate Carlos Sainz finished fifth.
Although Ferrari has planned upgrades for its home race at Imola in May, Leclerc expects the team to make small steps rather than miracles. The team boss Fred Vasseur considered the weekend a morale boost for the team. “For the motivation it was important…I think on one lap (qualifying) the pace was there and now we have to improve a bit on the long stint,” said the Frenchman