Charles Leclerc has demanded that Ferrari ‘improve’ a key trait of their SF-24 as last week’s Chinese Grand Prix exposed a ‘weakness’ with the Scuderia’s 2024 car again.
The Maranello natives headed to Shanghai widely expected to be the best of the rest behind Red Bull. But McLaren and Mercedes both enjoyed spells mixing it with Max Verstappen and Sergio Perez at the front. Lando Norris also split the Red Bull aces for the Grand Prix podium.
Norris even took pole position from Lewis Hamilton for the F1 Sprint in the rain-soaked SQ3. Hamilton also finished the 19-lap Sprint in second to Verstappen, after Norris lost out to the Mercedes star at the start. McLaren’s strategy helped Norris bounce back in the Chinese GP.
Charles Leclerc rues Ferrari’s slow corner ‘weakness’ in the Chinese GP
Strategy also helped Leclerc to finish the Chinese GP in fourth place as the top Ferrari driver. He and Norris both ran long in their first stints and capitalised on the VSC period sparked by Sauber star Valtteri Bottas retiring. Carlos Sainz secured P5 in the second Scuderia machine.
Their P4 and P5 results marked improvements from the P6 and P7 positions that Leclerc and Sainz respectively started the Chinese GP in. Their spots also matched the Monegasque and Spaniard’s results from the Sprint, which Leclerc and Sainz started in P7 and P5 on Saturday.
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But Leclerc was not happy to leave the Chinese GP with a pair of P4s. He felt the weekend as a whole highlighted how Ferrari have struggled in slow corners in 2024. So, he has urged the Scuderia to work on fixing a clear weakness that is preventing the 26-year-old from thriving.
“Our weakness is the slow corners,” Leclerc vented, via quotes by Speedweek. “We saw that again in China. We have not been well positioned in this area since the start of the season and we have to improve on that.”
Charles Leclerc does not expect any upgrades at the 2024 Miami GP
But Leclerc does not expect Ferrari’s weakness will be a quick fix and does not expect any upgrades at the Miami GP, either. So, the Monegasque will fly to Florida anticipating another possibly challenging event. Leclerc will also keep his expectations for the Miami GP modest.
Formula 1 returns to the Hard Rock Stadium track next on May 5. It was not a happy hunting ground for Ferrari in 2023, though. While Sainz qualified in P3, Leclerc could only manage P7 last May. Sainz even fell back to P5 in the 57-lap race as Leclerc finished the Miami GP in P7.
Leclerc will now hope Ferrari’s ‘weakness’ in slow corners this year does not lead to a repeat of his 2023 Miami GP results in 2024. The 23-time pole-sitter has finished each Grand Prix so far this year in P4 or higher. Leclerc also finished in P3 in Saudi Arabia and P2 in Australia.
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