Leclerc: Ferrari not as bad as rankings suggest

On the evening of the winter tests in Barcelona, ​​few would have bet that Ferrari would return to Catalan soil two months later without the slightest victory on the clock. And yet, at the dawn of the Spanish Grand Prix, the house of Maranello is 74 points behind Mercedes in the Manufacturers' classification, while the best placed driver in red, Sebastian Vettel, displays a disbursement of 35 units on the championship leader Valtteri Bottas. 

« I don't think we're as bad as the raw results indicate, said Charles Leclerc. We had two big chances: I made a mistake (in qualifying in Baku two weeks ago, Editor’s note) and before that we had encountered a technical problem which cost us a better position (the former champion of Formula 2 had won the race in Bahrain before being hit by an engine problem at the end of the race, editor's note). Generally speaking, the performance is definitely there. We just need to bring together all the ingredients to express our full potential. ». 

Barcelona, ​​where Ferrari impressed so much last winter, appears to be the ideal destination to put the Prancing Horse back in the saddle. Leclerc, however, warns against a possible sin of pride by affirming that the gap with Mercedes on the Catalan track was not as significant as we wanted to believe during the pre-season tests. 

« Even at that time, they were not far behind, added the 21-year-old young man. The last day of riding, the only one where they showed their hand, their best lap was almost identical to ours (Vettel finished 3 thousandths ahead Hamilton, Editor’s note). They were never dropped and we don’t even know how hard they attacked during this final day of testing. It's not fair to say that we were ultra-dominant in testing. 

Let’s hope that the developments made here allow us to take a leap forward. Barcelona is generally a fairly representative track in terms of the general performance level of a car. I hope we will be in the game ». 

In addition to the usual aerodynamic developments, the Scuderia is also introducing a new engine this weekend in Catalonia, encouraged by the findings of its fuel and lubricant supplier Shell.