Charles Leclerc and the Scuderia Ferrari have had a decent start to the season, but have yet to take home a Sunday victory going into the F1 Spanish GP. The Scuderia sit in fourth place in the constructors’ championship. Red Bull currently leads Ferrari in the points standings, despite the fact that Max Verstappen is their only driver performing.
New regulations that eliminate the flexi-wings teams have been utilizing are coming into effect this weekend in Barcelona. This poses a challenge for most of the front-runners, including McLaren, Mercedes, Red Bull, and Ferrari, as they enter the Spanish GP.
Leclerc on where they stand after the removal of the flexiwing ahead of the Spanish GP
The flexiwings allowed the cars to understeer less in the low-speed corners and oversteer less in the high-speed corners. In his print media session on Thursday at the Spanish GP, Leclerc discussed how this rule change affects the SF-25. The driver also discussed the uncertainties about how this will shake up the order.
When asked about Fred Vasseur’s remarks regarding the rule change, Leclerc downplayed Vasseur’s comment about how the Ferraris would be affected.
“I think he said could be, but yeah, could also not change at all, so I don’t think anybody else knows, yeah, I mean we know how much it’s going to affect us and not a lot, we don’t know how much it’s going to affect the others and at least we have no idea, so we’ll have to wait and see, but I really don’t know how much it’s going to change the pecking order.”
The Monegasque was then asked if there was some way to simulate this understeer/oversteer advantage without the flexiwing.
“Yeah, I mean you’ve got different ways of trying to improve that and reproduce the same at least feeling-wise for the driver, but then you end up compromising other things which is never what you want to do, so yeah, let’s say that there are going to be compromises to be found and maybe some drivers can drive with a bit more of a difficult balance and then by that you will be able to gain something as a team.”
Leclerc then reaffirmed that the removal of the flexiwing was not a massive change heading into the Spanish GP.
“I think we are all in the same situation, but I don’t think it’s going to change as much as we think in terms of feeling a little bit, but it’s not going to be a big, big change.”
Where the Ferraris stand after a positive Monaco GP
Leclerc finished second at his home Grand Prix, with teammate Lewis Hamilton not far behind in P5. The weekend was an overall improvement for Leclerc, finally being able to put up a fight against the McLarens. The Ferrari driver was careful not to answer directly when asked about what to expect from the SF-25 going forward.
“I don’t want to be thinking so much long-term just because I have no visibility, I mean I know what’s going to come for us in terms of small adjustments and improvements on the car, I don’t know what’s coming for the team, so it’s very difficult to predict or expect anything.”
“On paper, it’s going to be a tough one to go and beat McLaren on a year like this where they’ve been so dominant for the first part of the season, it’s going to be very tough, but I’ll give everything until the end.”
Leclerc concluded that the Ferraris need to deliver good results so that when upgrades arrive, they have a chance to compete for the top of the standings.
“I hope this weekend helps us to do a step in the right direction and then hopefully with new parts as soon as possible we can then take the lead in terms of performance on track at least, and then that will help us to hope for better, but we cannot afford to lose too many races and starting from this weekend I hope that we’ll be closer to the guys in front.”
