Speaking at the car launch of the F1-75, Charles Leclerc said he was happy with how the team have worked on their new F1 car.
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Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc believes expectations are high at Ferrari ahead of the 2022 Formula 1 season. However, the Monagesque driver believes the F1 giants are well-prepared for this season.
Speaking at the car launch of the F1-75, Leclerc said he was happy with how the team have worked on their new car. But, given this is Ferrari, he also stressed that they are expecting to compete at the very front.
“Well, of course expectations are high, because we are Ferrari. We are a team that is expected to win all the time and that’s what I was meaning by saying this,” said Leclerc.
“What makes me confident about this year’s car I think is the work that I’ve seen in the past few months.
“It’s been absolutely incredible by the whole team. It’s been a long time that we’ve been working on this car now and I can see how well we’ve been working, so that gives me the confidence for the future.
“The feeling is good; everyone is extremely motivated, and I am also extremely motivated to be back and be able to drive this extremely beautiful car.”
Ferrari’s car for 2022 features quite a few ‘bold’ interpretations of the new regulations. Team principal Mattia Binotto revealed earlier they went this direction due to multiple reasons.
The first was due to wanting to claw back the gap between them and the top teams. Ferrari finished third in the constructor’s championship last season; however, they were comfortably off the pace set by Mercedes and Red Bull.
The second is the freeze in development of the power units set to kick in this year until 2026. Ferrari went in a different direction with their engine, but it’s one they believe will work well.
The Maranello-based team will certainly hope their bold decisions work well. After all, the team last won a race in the 2019 season. 2020 was a year of struggle, one they are still working hard to recover from.
And Leclerc, for his part, hopes they will be able to compete for wins this year. In fact, he also spoke on how he would approach a potential title fight in 2022.
Bringing the heat ? #essereFerrari? @charles_leclerc pic.twitter.com/8ScngaFg3r
— Scuderia Ferrari (@ScuderiaFerrari) February 18, 2022
“I already had the chance in 2019 that at some races we were capable of fighting for the win, which was very exciting,” said Leclerc.
“The mental state that I am in is basically exactly the same: you try to extract the maximum out of the car and yourself to achieve the best result, and I think it’s the exact same approach I will have in case we have the car to fight for the championship this year.”
The 2022 F1 season will begin from March 18 onwards at Bahrain. Pre-season testing at Barcelona is set to commence in the coming week.
