Charles Leclerc says Ferrari are having to pursue increasingly extreme set-ups in order to make their SF-25 competitive.
The direction the team has gone in with its car is making it ever more difficult to drive, he said.
Leclerc finished yesterday’s Spanish Grand Prix in third place. He was on course to finish fourth until a late Safety Car period handed him the opportunity to pass Max Verstappen.
It was the second consecutive podium finish for Leclerc, who came second in Monaco a week earlier. But he said the latest result flattered the car’s performance.
“We finished on the podium because we were lucky with the Safety Car,” said Leclerc. “Otherwise, I think fourth was our position. So I don’t think I have much more confidence in order to finish on the podium consistently.”
However Leclerc believes Ferrari “are getting there” with their chassis. “I guess we’re starting to understand the car, how we can set it up in order to extract the maximum out of it.
“But still, we need to go in quite extreme directions, which is not so nice to drive. So unless we have upgrades very soon, I think it’s going to be difficult to be fighting regularly for podiums.”
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Leclerc said he’d been positively surprised by his race result for different reasons in the last two rounds.
“It’s not like I’m over the moon for a second or third place, but it still feels good because coming into the weekend, I did not expect that,” he said.
“But I didn’t last week as well in Monaco. I think though in Monaco, the disappointment was big because in FP1, FP2, FP3 we were very strong.
“It was not the case here, we weren’t strong in FP1, FP2, FP3 or qualifying. But I knew I had sacrificed quali yesterday in order to be strong in the race today, and it seems to have paid off, with a little bit of luck as well, that gave us the podium.
“So on that, it’s a good surprise. I’m very happy about our weekend, but I’m not happy about our overall performance. And on that, we need to do a step soon.”
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