Charles Leclerc has conceded that Ferrari have no answer for Red Bull’s pace advantage over them during the 2022 F1 Belgian GP weekend.
Leclerc is one of the six drivers who have chosen to pick up grid penalties after changing their Power Unit (PU) components. This comes as no surprise considering Ferrari’s obvious PU reliability issues plus the fast nature of the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, where overtaking is not a chore.
Max Verstappen, his main foe in the 2022 F1 World Drivers’ Championship battle, has also taken on a host of new parts. The Dutchman will be starting in P15 despite being the fastest man in qualifying earlier today.
What was more telling was the time difference between Verstappen and Charles Leclerc’s teammate, Carlos Sainz, who will start the race from pole after qualifying in P2 and inheriting the top spot from a penalized Verstappen. The reigning world champion’s time of 1:43.665, which was more than half a second quicker than the fastest Ferrari.
Speaking to the media after qualifying, Charles Leclerc reflected on the pace deficit between them and Red Bull. The Monegasque driver said:
“There is some potential because we didn’t prepare qualifying as much as we normally do, but when you see the gap to Max [Verstappen] it’s a bit worrying. They are extremely quick and that has been the case since the beginning of the weekend and we can’t quite explain why. We need to work. We’ll try our best tomorrow, but they seem to have found something this weekend. They are way too fast – there is nothing we could have done.”
Charles Leclerc knows he needs to improve in second half of 2022 to stand a chance of winning F1 world championship
Charles Leclerc is aware that he needs to get his affairs in order for the second half of the 2022 season if he is to have any hope of winning the World Drivers’ Championship this year.
The 24-year-old has been let down by Ferrari’s unreliable package and sketchy strategy calls while also making a few costly errors himself that have seen him fall 80 points behind Max Verstappen after 13 rounds of racing.
Speaking to the media after spinning out at the 2022 F1 French GP while leading the race, the 24-year-old said:
“I feel like I’m performing at probably the highest level of my career since the beginning of the season but there’s no point performing at this high level if I then go on to make mistakes. 32 points, 25 today as it was likely we were going to win this race. If at the end of the year we count back and it’s 32 points missing, then I know it’s coming from me and that I didn’t deserve to win the championship. For the second half of the season, I need to get on top of this if I want to be world champion.”
Charles Leclerc is currently P2 in the World Drivers’ Championship standings, 80 points behind Max Verstappen. To put it into perspective, the Dutchman could have three DNFs and would still be leading the standings.
The Ferrari man needs to try and replicate Sebastian Vettel’s run of nine consecutive wins in 2013 if he is to have any hope of winning the world title this year. It could still prove to be futile in the face of an almost faultless Verstappen this season.
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