Charles Leclerc has detailed how the presence of new tyres in qualifying masked any weaknesses of Ferrari’s 2023 Formula 1 car that were exposed in race conditions.
Ferrari stormed to seven pole positions across the most recent campaign but only converted one of those into victory. That arrived in Singapore when Red Bull, who won the other 21 races, struggled for speed and ended up a non-factor in the leading battle.
Leclerc was responsible for achieving five of Ferrari’s headline times in qualifying, equal to the amount amassed by every other driver on the grid except Max Verstappen combined.
However, the Monegasque’s attempts to translate that advantage into a first win since July 2022 were stymied by an inconsistent SF-23 car that struggled to manage the tyres.
Expanding on the Italian marque’s varying form, Leclerc explained that the benefit of fresh rubber and minimal fuel concealed the issues Ferrari would then face in race trim.
“When we have new tyres in qualifying, the extra grip from the tyres compensates for the car’s weaknesses,” Leclerc explained to German publication Auto Motor und Sport.
“As soon as the tyres get older and lose grip and we have a lot of fuel on board, the problems start.
“Then if we are driving in traffic, the wind picks up or the temperatures change, the weaknesses become even more obvious. Then it becomes very difficult to drive the car.
“With us, new tyres disguise the weaker points, which would otherwise slow us down. With Red Bull this is less the case.”
Leclerc picked out the race in Mexico as an example of Ferrari’s ongoing struggle to deliver a car that produces a consistent baseline of performance in all conditions.
The Ferrari driver had been comfortably running in second during the first stint but became powerless to defend from Lewis Hamilton upon his switch to the Hard tyre.
“As I said, it’s a very thin line on which the car works,” he continued. “Take the Mexico City Grand Prix: We were really fast on Medium tyres, but as soon as we got on Hard tyres, nothing worked.”
Leclerc concedes that celebrating pole positions in 2023 almost became redundant as he already knew that retaining first place come Sunday’s race would be a tall order.
Asked to pinpoint his highlights from the season, Leclerc reflected: “Normally it’s the victories. Of course, a pole position feels good, but I’ve already got 23 of them. And of course, the whole thing is clouded by the fact that I already know on Saturday that Sunday will be much more difficult.
“That’s why pole positions are no longer a real highlight. That’s why the best thing for me this year was that I helped to understand the car and transform it in a direction that is better and will lead us back to success in the medium term.
“Especially because it was so difficult to reach this understanding. Usually, it’s always just about finding a few more points of downforce.
“This time it’s much more complex and it’s much harder to make the connection between a change and the lap time.”
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