F1 News
Red Bull still too far ahead of Ferrari
During the Grand Prix weekend in Austria, Ferrari was clearly second to Red Bull, as evidenced by two podium finishes by Ferrari. Charles Leclerc finished ahead of Red Bull driver Sergio Perez on Sunday. This good result has given Leclerc renewed confidence in the future. In addition, he has set big goals due to these results.
In an interview with La Stampa, Leclerc expressed his satisfaction with last week's result: "Last Sunday's second place in Austria brought back my good mood. I am very strict. I quickly regain confidence. Every time I worked on a weak point, I improved quickly. I am sure next time will be better. Second place at the Red Bull Ring is a good starting point. We are working in the right direction."
Whether the Monegasque can now compete with Red Bull's team every weekend is uncertain. He says he does not yet have the same top speed. "At the moment we don't have Red Bull's speed, but we have made a lot of progress in the last races. My feeling with the car has improved, we are working in the right direction. I cannot talk about their car and how they will develop it, but by focusing on ourselves, I am confident that we will succeed in the medium term," said the Ferrari driver.
The goals for Ferrari and Leclerc in 2023
Ferrari is getting slightly closer to Red Bull's every race, but whether this is still every weekend is uncertain. This is because there is still a big time gap between Ferrari's pace and Red Bull's. From these results, then, Ferrari has set clear targets to reduce the gap each weekend.
So although the Ferraris came closer last weekend, the gap was still over five seconds. So whether it will be exciting again between Ferrari and Red Bull remains to be seen. "Maybe we will be lucky at Budapest or Zandvoort, but I cannot say for sure yet that we will fight with Red Bull at these two circuits. For now, the gap is big, they are too far away. However, they will be Grand Prix's where we will take a step forward," said the Monegasque.
The team and Leclerc do have clear goals for improvement to reduce the gap. "During the first race, I wanted to win the championship, but that was just a thought. The idea now is to finish second in the constructors' championship behind Red Bull and ahead of Aston Martin and Mercedes. That would be a good result. My last goal is to finish third in the drivers' classification," said the driver.