Leclerc Cautions Ferrari Fans: Monza Upgrade Not Enough for Season-Long Dominance

Charles Leclerc cautions that Ferrari's improvements are ‘insufficient’ for ‘securing victories for the remainder of the season’

"Is it sufficient to clinch race wins until the season concludes? I don't believe so yet, but we've made a significant move in the right direction."

Charles Leclerc has cautioned that Ferrari must enhance their performance further to be able to regularly compete with McLaren throughout the rest of the 2024 F1 season.

Charles Leclerc secured his second win of the season by utilizing a one-stop strategy to overcome McLaren's Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris.

Prior to Piastri's second visit to the pit lane, Leclerc trailed by five seconds, underscoring McLaren's dominance at Monza.

Ferrari unveiled a major update for the Italian Grand Prix, primarily aimed at addressing their issues with bouncing.

During the FIA press conference following the Monza race, Leclerc advised Ferrari to "exercise caution."

"We need to be careful," he stated. "Since Monaco, we've experienced the four most challenging races of the season, as Monaco's conditions were uniquely suited to our car at the time. Monza, too, is a very unique and distinctive circuit."

"There were many straight sections and few turns. We had a rear wing specifically designed for this track, which contributed to our victory today. Additionally, we introduced another upgrade that I believe has brought us closer to McLaren's performance. However, I don't think this will make us the leading car for the rest of the season on different tracks."

"We still have a considerable amount of work ahead of us, but I'm very pleased to have achieved this victory in Italy."

Even after facing challenges post-Monaco, Leclerc is only 24 points behind Norris in the drivers' standings.

In the constructors' standings, Ferrari trails Red Bull by only 39 points.

However, Leclerc has tempered expectations, referencing similar championship speculation after his victory in Monaco.

"This weekend, we performed exceptionally well, but Baku could present a completely different situation, and the same goes for Singapore. We need to start fresh each time. We already did a reset going from Monaco to Montreal, and as demonstrated, there was a significant shift between those two weekends."

“We experienced three or four of the toughest races of the season as we tried to figure out the issues with our car. Hopefully, we won't face such challenging races again in the near future, and I believe that won't happen.”

“However, it's crucial that both the team and external expectations remain grounded and don't skyrocket after just one race, as that's not realistic.

"Have we made progress? Yes. Is it sufficient to secure victories for the remainder of the season? Not quite yet, but we've definitely moved in the right direction."

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