Dark clouds already surround Ferrari as Charles Leclerc concedes the team 'needs to do a step forward' at 2023 F1 Dutch GP

After the two practice sessions at the 2023 F1 Dutch GP, Charles Leclerc has stated that Ferrari needs to make a major step forward for the Saturday and Sunday sessions. The Monegasque did not feel the best during the first two practice sessions, and it showed on the timing sheets as he finished 16th and 11th, respectively.

Speaking to F1TV after the first two sessions, Charles Lelcerc clearly admitted that his side of the garage needed to step up and fix whatever was wrong with his car during the Friday practice sessions. He said:

"The feeling wasn‘t great, there is a big margin to improve. We need to do a step forward and find what was wrong for tomorrow."

When further prodded about more details about what was wrong, Charles Leclerc clarified that the car needs some fine-tuning in the setup. Thankfully, however, he has a clear idea of how he wants the car to be set up for the remainder of the race weekend. The Ferrari driver is hopeful that the SF-23 will improve on Saturday and Sunday at Zandvoort.

He said:

"No, I think it‘s fine tuning, already from FP1 to FP2, we did some small changes, and it went in the right direction. We don‘t have the car in the right window [setup] yet. I have a very clear idea what I want from the car, we need to find the right setups to go around our issues but I am confident, normally we are quite good at that."

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Charles Leclerc understands both sides of the argument as F1 gradually increases the number of races per season

Charles Leclerc recently shared his own opinion on how F1 is gradually adding more and more races, which is cramming the season calendar. Though he understands how great it is for the sport since it is booming in popularity, he also feels for the mechanics, the engineers, and other team members who will be completely exhausted after 24 races per season.

Charles Leclerc said (via Autosport):

"One side of me understands. It's not easy if you put yourself in the shoes of Formula 1, we have a sport that is booming, and it's great to have that. We are very lucky to have that."

The Ferrari driver added:

"At the same time, I feel like at one point, it just gets too much. Not for us drivers, because we have a really good life. And I think the drivers that are complaining probably don't realize that the mechanics, the engineers, the guys on the logistics are here three days before us and leave two days after. I think for them, it starts to be quite a bit."

Charles Leclerc feels that F1 should not add any more races to the calendar and the maximum should only be 24 Grands Prix.