Picture Credit: Twitter/F1
Charles Leclerc remains optimistic of Ferrari's chances after an improved performance by him and Carlos Sainz in the pre-season testing in Bahrain. While Carlos Sainz finished P5 on Day 1, Charles Leclerc was even more impressive on Day 2, finishing P6. Overall, Team Ferrari should be contented with the results so far, especially after they finished as low as P6 in the Constructions Championship last season.
One of the major concerns for Ferrari was to deal with the instability issues with its rear. However, that seems to have been addressed well. Despite that, Leclerc was rather cautious in his approach given the fact that the pre-season is happening at the dust-laden Bahrain.
Already a positive
"I think there has been some work on that. The first data we have seen on track is correlating with the data we had back in Maranello before this test, so this is already a positive," he said.
"To give feedback on the car now with these conditions is very difficult but to see we have made some work on it and the data is correlating well with what we have in Maranello is a good sign of that. Everything feels quite good but it is very difficult to comment now," he added.
Nobody is pushing everything to its limit: Leclerc
Yet another issue that has often worried Ferrari was their engine, which had even affected Haas and Alfa Romeo. The same problem did not recur with the new power unit as Antonio Giovinazzi ended Day 2 on P5. However, Leclerc, reckons this could also be because bigger teams like Red Bull and Mercedes are sandbagging.
"Nobody is pushing everything to its limit, especially in these conditions, so right now it is early days but everything feels good and stacks up with what we expected," he concluded.