Charles Leclerc is adopting a “cautious” approach regarding Ferrari’s latest F1 upgrade, despite seeing encouraging signs for the future.
Ferrari has been battling a bouncing issue since introducing a major upgrade at the Spanish Grand Prix, particularly in high-speed corners. The team had to revert to an older package for the British GP at Silverstone due to the circuit’s high-speed demands. However, for the upcoming race at Monza, Ferrari has introduced a significant upgrade specifically designed to address their weaknesses.
Leclerc acknowledged that while the data shows improvement, he remains uncertain if the issues have been fully resolved, especially given Monza’s unique characteristics.
“Yes, I will be a bit more cautious. Monza is normally a track where we don’t typically encounter these issues,” Leclerc remarked. “Last year, we had a strong race here in terms of managing the bouncing. I think we’ve made progress.
“From the numbers, everything looks much better. I don’t think we would have experienced bouncing here even with the old package, but what we’re seeing from this new floor is promising. It’s a good sign for the future.”
Carlos Sainz, Leclerc’s teammate, echoed this sentiment, noting the reduced bouncing at Monza but emphasizing the need to confirm the improvement at other circuits.
“There’s definitely less bouncing for us here this weekend,” Sainz said. “We need to see if it’s the new floor that’s making the difference. Since Monza has always been low on bouncing, it’s promising, but we need to double-check at other tracks.”
In qualifying, Ferrari secured fourth and fifth positions on the grid for Sunday’s race. However, Leclerc expressed frustration over persistent understeer in the early part of the lap, which cost them valuable time compared to the McLarens.
“It’s frustrating because we were close, but it’s still not enough,” Leclerc explained. “We’ve had the same understeer issue since FP1 in Turns 1, 2, 4, and 5. It disappeared in FP3, but unfortunately, it came back in qualifying. We’re losing around two and a half tenths in the first few corners, and it’s tough to recover from that.
“Now, we need to focus on our race pace tomorrow. I don’t expect to have as much of an issue in those corners during the race, and hopefully, that will improve our performance.”
