Charles Leclerc says he certainly a more complete driver now from what he was in 2019 after a solid F1 British GP drive, as Mattia Binotto doesn’t wish to spill the beans on the work to solve the tyre issues.
In 2021, as a constructor, Ferrari are enjoying a better season this year than they did in 2020. Also, it is hard to believe that Leclerc is now in his third season with the Italian manufacturer. His first season with them saw him take back to wins at Spa and Monza and not forgetting the seven pole positions. A competitive season for both parties.
But in 2020, they were far behind after the ruling they had, not allowing him to excel via positions, but still do a good job overall. A second place at Silverstone is his best result since the Red Bull Ring race last season – a telling journey indeed.
Leclerc drove the race of his life to finish second after leading for 50 out of 52 laps. He was the moral victor and voted everywhere driver of the day. From 2019 to 2021, its been quite the journey for him and he actually now feels as a complete driver from then.
“I definitely rate the Silverstone result very high, because I feel a more complete driver than where I was in 2019, that’s for sure,” said Leclerc. “I don’t think I did any mistakes or no big mistakes and, surprisingly, we were actually pushing a lot on the tyres, so the mistakes were easy to do.
“But I actually pushed 100% in the first lap to the last lap, and it felt good and I think as a team also we, first of all, the car was amazing but also we managed very well the difficult situation in the first stint, where we had the, the small engine cuts, and then we managed to do it very well with the team which was good to see,” summed up Leclerc.
Poles this season at Monaco and Baku did not give him the results he deserved. Silverstone was not really a Ferrari suited track, but although it is not a street track like Monaco or Baku, Hungary is a tight circuit with overtaking difficult. With confidence on the increase, Charles might go for the win next weekend perhaps.
“I mean it’s good to be optimist and I think we all want to be optimist after such a good performance in the last three races to be honest, but on the other hand we also we need to be realistic and of course, it’s good and we are in a good mood, that I feel like going for the win in Budapest might be a bit optimistic,” said Leclerc. “So realistically I think I will be happy. We are just behind the two top teams.”
After 10 races, Ferrari are just behind McLaren by 15 points and fourth overall, but more races like Silverstone would see them overtake the Woking outfit, who are also in the ascendancy this season – as they have increased their points tally.
Earlier this season at Paul Ricard, Ferrari had some serious tyre issues so much so that Carlos Sainz had noticed same problem at Bahrain. Ferrari now look to have resolved the issue to an extent, with Binotto noting about some changes but not enough still.
“I won’t go into the details of what we did first because I’m not an expert,” said Binotto. “Certainly we looked a lot in the simulators and the simulations, with the driver with the team trying to in terms of tyre management that understanding what was wrong and how to address. What I think I’m happy and pleased to see is to see the progress.”
They have certainly progressed in the last three Grands Prix. Overall, they have had a consistent season between both drivers, with the only blemish being the tyre related results at Paul Ricard.
The article was co-written by Neil Farrell
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