Charles Leclerc says Ferrari needs to find the “strange” trick that Red Bull and McLaren are using with energy deployment and says it will be their ticket back to the top step of the podium.
Ferrari went into their home race at Imola hoping to fight for victory, but the battle ultimately came down to Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and McLaren’s Lando Norris, with Verstappen taking a late charge from Norris. They persevered and got the job done, winning by just seven points. -1/10.
Ferrari needs to solve Red Bull and McLaren’s energy tricks
Leclerc would finish just over six seconds behind Norris’ McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri, but 14 seconds shy of victory. But he is confident that Verstappen and Norris know where they are making the difference.
And he believes it comes down to how they manage the energy supply from the power unit. So if Ferrari can do that, Leclerc believes they too will be fighting for victory.
In an interview with Sky F1, Leclerc was asked if he thought more could have been done to improve the race at Imola, to which he replied: “Yes.
“In the first stint we had to cover Oscar. You can’t afford to lose position on a track like this. So we had to stop.
“Oscar was pushing hard in the first few laps out and it was very difficult to manage the tires in the first part on the hard tires.
“Then they saw me coming back to Lando and I thought, ‘Okay, now I’m going to put some pressure on him.’ But obviously as soon as I got a little closer, they started pushing. That was it. We never saw Rand again.
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“So, they were strong. But I really think today it was all about track position. I think our race pace was very strong.
“Looking back at qualifying, I’m more optimistic than yesterday because I think that’s where we’re lacking on a weekend like this.
“And what makes me optimistic is because when I look back at the data, I thought I was losing in Turns 2, 3 and 4, which again should have been tire related, but it wasn’t. We lost everything in the straights, but McLaren and Red Bull are doing strange things with their energy engines.
“So we’ll have to look into that, but there’s nothing that can’t be changed. So we’re going to look into that. And if we fix that, we have a real chance of getting back to the top of the podium. think.”
Leclerc moved into second place in the drivers’ championship after his podium at Imola, ahead of Verstappen’s Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez.
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