"Red Bull did twice of a step": Charles Leclerc admits Ferrari's pre-season targets were arguably too conservative

Charles Leclerc has said that Ferrari's performances this season are "exactly" as expected, and that the team perhaps went wrong with their pre-season targets. The Monegasque driver also said that Red Bull's significant improvement in performance has exaggerated Ferrari's woes this season.

However, Charles Leclerc said that Ferrari now have a better understanding of their car and that the team will improve their package in the upcoming races. Asked about the performance deficit in the 2023 season, he said:

"Well honestly, the car was doing exactly as it was expected to do. So it’s like on that we did a bad job, we didn’t arrive to our expectations. But unfortunately Red Bull did twice of a step compared to us. So I think it’s more where we fixed the targets than anything else."

Charles Leclerc further stated that he is looking forward to closing the gap with the runaway leaders. He said:

"But again there are few things that we’ve realised, that should be much better for the future. That again gives me confidence for the future. Now I understand a bit more why we are here now. And as I said for the future, not short term. The gap to Red Bull is significant but I’m sure that will come down."

Asked when the team could turn around their performance, Charles Leclerc was reluctant to put a time frame on it, but was positive they would be able to recover soon. He said:

“I don’t want to give a time frame but yeah let’s see. We will work as hard as possible for it to be as quickly as possible.”

It is understood that Ferrari have suffered from excessive tire degradation so far this season, as Carlos Sainz admitted to Sportskeeda after the Saudi Arabian GP.

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Charles Leclerc claims Ferrari have understood the reason behind this deficit in pace compared to Red Bull

Charles Leclerc has stated that Ferrari are aware of the reasons behind their significant deficit against Red Bull this season.

The Monegasque driver said the team is aware that they are closer to Red Bull in qualifying compared to the main race, but felt that their Milton Keynes-based rivals tend to take a significant leap in terms of race pace.

Asked if Ferrari knew why they were closer to Red Bull in qualifying compared to the race, Leclerc said:

“Yes we again we have ideas, I don’t want to pinpoint a thing. Because I believe everybody is trying to search this extra gap because they seem to be compared to everybody doing a step in the race, apart from one or two teams. But yeah again, I think we understood quite a few things. I think it is up to us to fix those things to work in the right direction.”

Going by Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc’s comments after the first three races, their car suffered from tire degradation in clean and dirty air. Their tire degradation in dirty air compromised their ability to follow the car ahead without losing significant amounts of performance.

Meanwhile, the Maranello-based team are looking forward to turning around their performance woes at the Azerbaijan GP, where they have brought in a few upgrades to their car.