Ferrari must work on race pace for 2020: Leclerc

The refrain has been consistently the same for many Grands Prix: the Ferrari SF90 was able to prove itself very effective in qualifying, but was only too rarely able to rise to the level of Mercedes in the race this year.

New demonstration yesterday at Abu Dhabi, where neither Charles Leclerc, neither Sebastian Vettel were unable to compete on equal terms with an impressive Lewis Hamilton. " Mercedes was simply too fast today” was limited to commenting on Sebastian Vettel after the finish.

A speed in racing which constitutes one of the main areas of work for the coming winter according to Charles Leclerc. “I think during the season the situation has been more or less the same in qualifying, we more or less manage to be there, but in the race we seem to struggle, underlines the Monegasque. So we have to work for 2020.”

Yesterday, the winner of the Italian Grand Prix did not spare any effort, even adopting an offbeat strategy to try everything to reach this honorary 3rd place in the championship behind the two Mercedes. A complete loss.

“It was a bit of a strange race, because during the first stint I was very optimistic, I was behind Lewis, recalls Leclerc. Yes, we weren't as fast as him but I still thought the pace was there.

Then we tried to stop early enough to try to force them to stop early, but then I realized that I wouldn't see Lewis again until the end of the race because we weren't fast enough and we never challenged them.

It was quite clear to me that to get this third place, it was a question of victory, because Max Verstappen was still in the game, so we had to do something. I didn't want to stay there. So, I just tried, to be honest with little hope but yes, at least we tried. »

Discover the full report and analysis of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, produced by our special correspondent on the Yas Marina Circuit, in AUTO issue 2245hebdo, available from this Monday evening in digital version and from this Wednesday on newsstands.