The start of 2023 F1 Beyond The Grid podcast season has Charles Leclerc discussing about the winter break, driving old Ferrari cars, title bid & more.
To embark the 2023 F1 season, the first guest of the year on Beyond The Grid podcast is Ferrari’s Leclerc. He begins by talking about the SF-23, but does allude to the fact that it is too early to advise how good it can or will be. The testing though has been successful.
He stated that the car this year feel similar to last season’s minus the porpoising which is more or less gone. He adds that small details are very focal with the braking being the biggest surprise of all. The topic then switched to the winter break he had.
He talks about the intensive training camp they undertook in Italy which he enjoyed immensely in the snowy mountains. It was great for upper body strength as per him and he is getting more used to it and at some stage he will be climbing a mountain with his two brothers.
The winter break also had him driving the old Ferrari cars at Yas Marina circuit. He talks about driving Michael Schumacher’s 2003 machine among other ones which he thoroughly enjoyed as Leclerc then expanded about the difference between cars now and then especially the downforce levels.
Amid other things, he got to watch a NBA in Paris where he met Alpine drivers Esteban Ocon and Pierre Gasly. Off-track, he likes playing soccer but isn’t very good. At home, he plays piano and did so too as he is a huge fan of. He reckons it helps him to unwind massively. He has also started playing guitar but overall prefers the piano.
He added that he is still playing paddle and has started taking flying lessons also but quite sporadically at the moment. He is trying to get his private pilot license. In another topic, he noted about a cameo appearance as a policeman in a Buzz Lightyear film.
Getting back to the F1 side of things, Leclerc talked about Carlos Sainz with whom he shares a good relation being good friends and that they know how to work together as a team outside the car. He likes the intricacies when compared to Sainz and he is confident they will both be at the sharp end in 2023.
Going deep, Leclerc noted that he reflects over a season in two parts, one is immediately after the final grand prix and then just before the start of a new season. He revealed that the team were very self critical after last year’s result where he once again went through the reliability issues and strategy goof-ups.
Moving to the topic of tyres, Leclerc feels the new compounds will help with tyre degradation for Ferrari in 2023 after issues last year. Apart from Red Bull, he reckons Mercedes will be in the fight and picks Aston Martin as the one to watch too. Ideally, he would love if all teams in F1 could fight for wins but knows it is not easy.
He added about momentum and the learning Ferrari had last year after getting back in the mix of title picture. This brought to the change from Mattia Binotto to Frederic Vasseur and working with the Frenchman again. He advises he has not changed that much in the years since he first met him in the junior days.
Leclerc says Vasseur is people’s person and is always there for people. To finish, he advises that he is the best shape he has ever been. He adds that he is very vocal in the team and reckons that Ferrari as they are right now are in the best place they have been since he joined in 2019.
Here’s the F1 podcast: https://audioboom.com/posts/8255194-charles-leclerc-2nd-isn-t-enough
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