Leclerc responds to Norris' claim: 'Nobody wants to hear that'

F1 News

Leclerc responds to Norris calling Ferrari favourites in Canada
7 June at 07:00
  • Matt Gretton
  • Editor-in-Chief

Lando Norris has placed the ball firmly in Ferrari's court for the 2024 Canadian Grand Prix weekend by suggesting they are the firm favourites to take victory. With Red Bull struggling, McLaren and Ferrari were left to fight for the win last time out in Monaco, and Charles Leclerc came out on top. The man from Monaco explains how nobody wants to be favourites. And that's surely a sign of the F1 field tightening?

Over recent race weekends, both McLaren and Ferrari have introduced upgrades which have significantly closed the gap on Red Bull Racing at the front of the field. The two chasing teams in the World Championship now have realistic hopes of victory going into race weekends.

Who does Norris think are the favourites to win in Canada?

Whereas Red Bull struggled with kerb riding in Monaco, Ferrari excelled, which helped Leclerc secure pole position in Monte Carlo. This weekend's track in Montreal also has similar charactericts, though perhaps not to the same extremes as Monaco. But for this reason, Norris puts the pressure on Ferrari, though he admits it will still be a tight battle. During his media moment, Leclerc was told how Norris labelled Ferrari as the favourite. The man from Monaco wasn't surprised to hear those words from his rival team. "Everybody doesn't want to go into a weekend hearing that they are favourites, so you are never going to hear me say we are 100% the favourites this weekend," Leclerc said. 

"You've got to throw the ball to your closest opponents. I think it might not be the true picture once we hit the track. I think the reality is we are so closely matched between those three teams. On track characteristics, Montreal is very difficult to pinpoint a favourite and it will be down to the one that does the better job. As well as that, the rain is going to be here this weekend. We haven't really driven with these cars yet in the rain. So we'll see how each car is performing in those conditions," Leclerc concluded.