Charles Leclerc believes that it’s difficult to understand how far Red Bull is from Ferrari and the other competitors, as they did not make a full race pace simulation run last week.
While following pre-season testing, it was possible to notice that some teams, Ferrari included, ran complete race pace simulations (57 laps in Bahrain) where they tried three stints with different compounds of tires. On the last day, Max Verstappen seemed to have started the same program, but Red Bull stuck to shorter stints, not giving away its true pace.
Due to that, Leclerc said it’s difficult to understand the Milton Keynes-based outfit’s real potential ahead of the season opener in Bahrain.
“The thing is that Red Bull is one of the only teams that didn’t do a full race simulation during the test, which is normally what helps us to understand where we are exactly. So it’s very difficult to know where they are.
“We did one. We know where we are obviously, and some of the [other] teams have done some race runs, so we have kind of an idea of where they stand. But Red Bull is not the case.”
Even though the Monégasque cannot anticipate where Ferrari is in the pecking order, he hopes that the Scuderia can perform well, and he’s sure that if there is an opportunity, the team will take it.
“For now, it’s impossible to understand where we are. However, it’s a track we have been strong [at] in the past and I hope that we can challenge for the win. And if there’s an opportunity, we’ll do absolutely everything to take it.”
Leclerc also added that 2024 started better compared to last year, where immediately after the first laps, he understood the car wasn’t as good as Ferrari hoped it would be.
“Normally, I’m a person that smiles, but last year it was very difficult to smile about anything because it was a very, very difficult test. Probably the worst I’ve ever experienced in my Formula 1 career as nothing was going right,” he said.
“This year it’s more in line with what we expected. But we shouldn’t confuse driveability and competitiveness. The car is much more driveable for now. However, competitiveness, we still have to see.
“If I end up P5 or P6 at the end of the weekend, having maximized our result, probably the smile on my face won’t be there anymore. But I hope that this won’t be the case.”