'Leclerc and Ferrari can fight Verstappen and Red Bull for world title'
F1 News
- Ludo van Denderen
His win in Monaco has given Charles Leclerc an extra boost. The Ferrari driver already knew he had a strong car, after Monaco he and Ferrari got serious about the world titles. The Monegasque himself believed he can beat Max Verstappen and become world champion this year, one of his competitors also thinks Leclerc and Ferrari can capture both titles.
"First of all, I do agree with Charles that Ferrari is in the quest to become a world champion on both championships," said Andrea Stella, who then preferred to look at his own team. "We look at the classification, we see we are in a good position. But the second after we do that, we forget and we think about what do we need to do now to be good at the next race? What do we do now to be good at the following races, delivering projects? So we don't really focus on outcome and results. We focus more on the process and on being always performance-focused."
McLaren are not thinking about the championship
So Stella is not thinking about the world title, also because McLaren is not yet ready for it. "We think that we could be a challenger for podiums. If we look at the current situation from a competitiveness point of view, there are a few teams that are really in a narrow band in terms of lap time, separated by a few tenths of a second. Track layout makes a difference. Drivers can make a difference."
"I think we saw Leclerc was in phenomenal shape in Monaco. So there are many variables. What's important is just to try and be as prepared as possible and maximise the package. And then we see what the results will be," Stella concluded.