Charles Leclerc is not getting carried away with F1 Monaco GP win and being close to Max Verstappen, amid real title challenge chance in 2024.
Even though Red Bull is still marked as the team to beat and Verstappen the driver, the advancements from Ferrari and McLaren has been noted well. The former has two wins already, with the latter taking one in the eight run so far in the 2024 season.
This is more than double of what any other team managed last year and the points tally tells the tale too. Ferrari are only 24 points adrift of Red Bull in the constructors’, while Leclerc is 31 away from Verstappen in the drivers’ standings.
The wins have certainly helped the cause of Verstappen where despite a DNF and a sixth place, the Dutchman is ahead when Leclerc is yet to finish below fourth. The win in Monaco GP and the struggles of Red Bull has stemmed the questions if there can be a fight?
Personally, Leclerc sees a tide turning towards him in terms of his driving and performance, but whether it is enough from him or Ferrari to win the title, it is too early to say. “I feel that the turning point of the season has been a few races ago already,” he said. “We didn’t have quite the car to win a race in the last few races.
“However, we did in Monaco, and I knew that the opportunity had to be taken, and I did. So on that, we did a really good job. I’ve had two qualifyings where I struggled at the beginning of the season, but from then on, I worked on my qualifying pace, and since then, I’m extremely happy with the job we are doing.
“So, yeah, really happy with how it goes, and I hope that this will bring us to many more wins. We shouldn’t get carried away, that obviously Monaco is such a specific track, and I think we had a really good car this weekend. It doesn’t mean that it will stay like that until the end of the year, but looking back at the first few races of the season, I think we did a great job maximising all the races that we have done, and yeah, we’ll keep it going.
“Somebody told me it is 23 points from Max, so I was excited. But 31 is OK. I mean, I’ll take it anyway, but it’s a bit more than what I had been told. So, yeah, it’s OK. But I don’t think about the championship for now anyway, and it’s still too early on in the season. I think the upgrades that we have brought in Imola, we have still to see how well they work and where it will bring us.
“And then it’s all about maximising all weekends, and then hopefully, little by little, we’ll get there,” summed up Leclerc, who had big praise for Ferrari team boss Frederic Vasseur too. Ever since the Frenchman has taken over, the team has looked to be a fighting one and not resigning themselves behind Red Bull. The four wins are testament to that.
“I have no doubts,” started Leclerc. “I think since the first day he joined and that he’s got everything to bring back the team to where it belongs and that means to a world championship. He’s got such a clear vision of what he wants to achieve and how to achieve it.
“He doesn’t lose time and that is definitely his strength and I think his vision is really good. We share it very often, on how he wants to achieve those targets. I’ve always been completely aligned with the way he wants to change things to get to where we want to get. I have no doubt that he’s the right person and that he’s helping the team to get there.”
Vasseur, meanwhile, is not taking things lightly seeing the recent performances. Like Leclerc, he is cautious about things at this juncture too, especially with regards to them toppling Red Bull and Verstappen from the top spot this year.
“If I never said that Red Bull was champion after six races, and I won’t say today that it won’t be the case,” said Vasseur. “We have still 17 races to go, or 16, I don’t know, probably that you can still score 500 points until the end. It means that nothing is done in one direction or the other.
“But I’m sure that Red Bull and Max, they never considered that they were already champions. And it’s also part of their, the key time and it’s probably part of the game that you need always to do more, to push more and if you consider at one stage that it’s now it’s okay, I’m there, that you are there that it’s the DNA of what we are doing and I’m convinced that Red Bull is in the control zone.”
Here’s Charles Leclerc on Monaco GP win and thenafter
Here’s Carlos Sainz on P2 fight
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