Charles Leclerc has warned that Ferrari’s slim deficit to Red Bull in the Formula 1 Constructors’ Championship is not representative of the teams’ respective pace levels.
Red Bull stormed to consecutive 1-2 finishes in the opening two races of the season to continue its recent dominance but encountered a miserable weekend in Australia.
Max Verstappen’s hopes were dashed as he retired with a stuck right-rear brake, while Sergio Perez’s race was hampered when a visor tear-off got lodged under his floor.
Ferrari capitalised on a rare Red Bull slip-up to claim maximum points in Melbourne, which has seen the Italian marque close to within points of the reigning champions.
But speaking ahead of this weekend’s Japanese Grand Prix, Leclerc has predicted that normal service will resume with Red Bull’s RB20 emerging as the class of the field.
The Monegasque driver pinpointed how Red Bull’s track record with struggling more on front-limited circuits like Albert Park contributed to Ferrari being a renewed threat.
“I think for now, with what we know, I would expect Red Bull to still have the advantage this weekend, especially coming race day,” he cautioned.
“I think we have a particular strength whenever a track where front graining is a thing. In Australia it was the case two weeks ago and there we were very strong coming race day.
“I think this weekend it’s less a case of front graining but more of overall degradation. So there I think Red Bull will get back to where they were before that.
“However, it’s a very important part of the season where we need to maximise all the points that we can, which we have done.
“Because if we look at the first three races, I don’t think that being only four points behind Red Bull represents our true performance.
“Yes, we are closer than what we were in the past, but I think we’ve done a particularly good job at maximising what we have at the moment.
“And until the upgrades, which I hope will put us in a better position to fight them regularly on the Sunday, we need to bring as many points home as possible.
“And that’s why I think our start of the season is positive for that.”
Ferrari’s improved competitiveness this term has derived from the engineers’ success in constructing an SF-24 car that is more compliant to drive than its predecessor.
Despite his pessimism about its chances against Red Bull, Leclerc believes the Maranello squad will be in stronger shape than on F1’s last trip to Suzuka in September.
“As I said, I think our strength in Australia, and we’ve been stronger than what we actually thought, especially the Sunday, is mostly because of the front graining,” he reiterated.
“I think here we expect less front graining… but yeah, I would expect to have a more normal weekend here, where in the race Red Bull still have the upper hand.
“However, if there’s an opportunity like in Australia, we need to be here to take it. But we should be closer than what we have seen last year, this for sure.
“Especially in the high speed, I think we’ve worked quite a bit on this year’s car, and it’s a much more predictable car.
“Last year we had quite a lot of inconsistencies, so on that, this should go in the right direction in order to close the gap to Red Bull.”
Red Bull ended the opening practice hour in Japan at the head of the timesheets, but Carlos Sainz, who classified third, took encouragement from the two-tenth margin.
Meanwhile, Leclerc wound up sixth fastest in FP1, with a late dash on the Soft compound in a damp second session seeing him elevate his scarlet Ferrari up into third.
