Charles Leclerc hopes Ferrari's upgrades are enough to 'jump back in front' of Red Bull

Charles Leclerc is hoping the new upgrades brought to the F1-75 by Ferrari will be enough to help him leapfrog the Red Bulls in performance at the 2022 F1 Spanish GP.

Ferrari has introduced upgraded floors and skids to its car and is also expected to have shed a couple of kilograms through a revamped paint job, bringing them closer to F1 minimum weight.

Speaking at a pre-race press conference at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, the 24-year-old was asked about Ferrari's new upgrades and his expectations for them. The Monegasque said:

“Well, hopefully it will be good ones and enough to be in front of Red Bull again. It’s been close since the beginning of the season. And every time they’ve brought upgrades, they, in the first part, came closer and closer and now I think are a bit in front, especially in terms of race pace. So, I hope it will be enough for us to jump back in front.”

When asked what the main focus of the upgrades would be, Leclerc said:

“A little bit of everything. Obviously straight-line speed, I think also slow-speed corners, they seemed to be very strong in Miami in slow-speed corners. So, a little bit of this, of both of these areas.”

Leclerc put in 27 laps in FP1 and 29 laps in FP2 and was the fastest driver around the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya in both sessions with the fastest time of 1:19.670.

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"Hopefully we will just have the edge for here" - Charles Leclerc optimistic about Ferrari's chances at 2022 F1 Spanish GP

Charles Leclerc does not think Ferrari's good pre-season testing form in Barcelona back in February counts for anything ahead of the sixth round of the 2022 F1 season.

When asked if the team's good run and new upgrades had instilled confidence in him ahead of the 2022 F1 Spanish GP, the Monegasque said:

“To be honest, I don’t know how much it means that we had good winter testing here because it was a long time ago and already from that moment to now, all the teams have done quite a big step forward. I’m pretty sure that we’ll see all the steps forward from this weekend onwards, because of the upgrades.”

Leclerc went on to add:

“So, I think it will be all down to how much we’ll improve the car with what we put on the car this weekend. And how much Red Bull will improve the car with…if they have anything new on the car for this weekend. But I don’t think that is going to be a massive difference to what we’ve seen since the beginning of the season. It has been very close and I hope it will remain the same, but hopefully we will just have the edge for here.”

Charles Leclerc has bagged two wins, four podium finishes in total, and 104 points after the first five rounds of the season. Title rival Max Verstappen is hot on his heels with 85 points in P2.