“I don’t think that on paper we are favorites anywhere”: Charles Leclerc offers hopeless picture of Ferrari’s future this season

Charles Leclerc gave a dull outlook on Ferrari's recent dip in performance. The Monegasque feels that the Italian team cannot be called favorites on any track in the remainder of the 2024 F1 season.

Ferrari was one of the strongest teams at the start of the 2024 F1 season. They bagged podiums with Red Bull and also won the Australian and Monaco GPs with Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc, respectively. In the car development race, they were quickly closing the gap to Red Bull and fighting McLaren to make the fastest machine on the grid.

However, their performance plummeted in the European leg in June. Since Leclerc won the Monaco GP, he was unable to bag any podium place. Sainz was only able to finish P3 in the Austrian GP. Though Ferrari was collecting points, they were not able to fight at the top with the likes of Mercedes, McLaren and Red Bull.

Speaking to the media, Leclerc was asked whether there was any track where Ferrari could be favorites. He said that his team cannot be theoretically called favorites in any remaining tracks in the 2024 F1 season. Leclerc explained that Monaco, where his team was quick, was a completely different kind of track compared to the rest of the calendar. He said (via RacingNews365):

"Not really. I mean, now if we stay like this with our car, I don’t think so. Monaco is a very, very specific track, which we were very strong, but that doesn’t mean that we’ll be fast anywhere else during the season. So no, I don’t think that on paper we are favourites anywhere."

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Charles Leclerc happy with Hungarian GP result but not satisfied with Ferrari's overall performance against rivals

Charles Leclerc was "relatively happy" with finishing P4 in the 2024 F1 Hungarian GP. This was his top-most finish after his race win in Monaco.

Speaking to F1.com, he stated that though he was usually never happy with a P4 finish, he was in this particular scenario since he had been struggling in the past few races.

"I’m relatively happy. I mean, I’m never happy with a P4 but if you do a step back, considering the tough few races I’ve had in the last few weekends… We came here saying we need to maximise the team points, we need to maximise the car, and I think we did that today, so on that I’m happy," Leclerc said.

Charles Leclerc further added that he was not happy with Ferrari's overall performance against rivals like McLaren and Red Bull, who are fighting for race wins and eventually, the championship. He also addressed the difficulty in overtaking at Hungaroring.

"On the other hand, I’m not happy because the performance is not where we want it to be. McLaren is quite a far bit ahead now, Red Bull was a bit closer than what we thought today. But I think we had a pretty good race pace, we were just a bit stuck because it’s a track where you cannot really overtake," he added.

After the Hungarian GP, Charles Leclerc is in third place in the drivers' championship with 162 points. Meanwhile, Red Bull's Max Verstappen has a sizable lead at the front of the table with 265 points.