Leclerc Cautious Despite Ferrari’s Monza Win: Warns Upgrades Not Enough to Challenge McLaren for 2024 F1 Season

Charles Leclerc cautions that Ferrari's recent improvements are insufficient to secure victories for the remainder of the season. "Will it be enough to win races from now until the season concludes? I don't believe so yet, but we've made significant progress."

Charles Leclerc has cautioned that Ferrari must enhance their performance if they hope to regularly compete with McLaren throughout the rest of the 2024 F1 season.

Leclerc secured his second win of the season by leveraging a one-stop strategy, outperforming McLaren's Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris.

Ahead of Piastri's second pit stop, Leclerc was trailing by five seconds, underscoring McLaren's dominance with the fastest car at Monza.

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

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

"We need to be careful," he stated. "Following Monaco, I believe we've experienced the four most challenging races this season, as Monaco suited our car's capabilities perfectly at that moment. Monza, too, is a unique and distinctive circuit."

"There were many straight sections and only a few turns. We had a rear wing designed specifically for this track, which contributed to our victory today. We also introduced another upgrade that I believe has narrowed the gap with McLaren, but I don't think it's sufficient to make us the top car for the remainder of the season on different tracks."

"We still have plenty to accomplish, but I'm very pleased to have won one here in Italy."

Even though Leclerc has faced challenges since the Monaco race, he is only 24 points behind Norris in the drivers' standings.

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

However, Leclerc has tried to temper expectations, pointing to similar speculation about a championship bid after his victory in Monaco.

"We performed exceptionally well this weekend, but Baku could present a completely different challenge, and Singapore will also be unique. Therefore, we need to adjust our approach. We successfully made adjustments between Monaco and Montreal, but as evidenced by the significant differences between those two weekends, each event can vary greatly."

"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 in the future, and I believe that won't be the situation."

"However, it's crucial to manage both the team's expectations and those from outside sources, ensuring they don't skyrocket from one race to the next, as this would be unrealistic."

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

Discover More

Breaking News

Breaking News

Site Directory

Crash.Net

©1999-2024 Crash Media Group

Reproducing the content, whether in full or in part, including text, photos, or images, is strictly prohibited in any manner