Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc sees improvement from 2020 F1 season

In 2020, Ferrari experienced a deep slump with a sixth-place among the constructors. The team was hit hard by the FIA after the team had seemingly cheated with the engine in 2019. In 2020, it was presented with the bill for that and so Ferrari had to start all over again. In 2021 Ferrari made a step, but of course, they are not there yet.

Charles Leclerc has finished every Grand Prix this year inside the top six, three times out of four in P4. But the podium has so far eluded him. Leclerc claimed two podiums by the same point last year.

Despite Ferrari’s pace struggles the Monegasque praised the “great job” done by Ferrari’s engineers in Maranello on this year’s SF21. He is said to target a return to the top step in the near-future. His last triumph came at the 2019 Italian Grand Prix.

A DIFFICULT 2020 FOR FERRARI

“Last year was definitely a difficult season, to accept where we were,” Leclerc told Codesport.fr after finishing fourth at the Spanish Grand Prix, having headed Mercedes’ Valtteri Bottas for a large part of the race.

“It shows that all the work that the people have done in Maranello, and that we have also done at the track, is paying off and we can see it at the track.

“The road is still long and we want to be fighting for the first positions very soon. But I think the way we work is the right one and we are just doing a good job as a team, and we want to keep going like that.”

He also spoke about the difference between Sainz and former teammate Sebastian Vettel. “With Seb, it was a bit different. He had a lot of experience and already knew the team very well when I came there.

“For Carlos, it’s all new. We are both very young. There is a lot of enthusiasm and motivation. We’re not in the same situation as three years ago, when Seb came from a period where the team was very strong and they could compete for the title.”