Charles Leclerc has been sincere regarding the Japanese weekend’s pecking order, admitting that Red Bull is still ahead of Ferrari and beating them won’t be easy until the Scuderia brings new upgrades.
The Italian team brought home a 1-2 finish in Melbourne, on a weekend where Red Bull suffered from graining. Not only that, Max Verstappen retired due to overheating issues to his right-rear brake, and Sergio Perez lost load due to a tear-off being stuck underneath his floor.
Those circumstances certainly helped Ferrari, which still seemed competitive and able to challenge the Milton Keynes outfit for the win. However, on a normal weekend, and especially in Suzuka, which perfectly fits the RB20 characteristics, Leclerc still sees Red Bull ahead.
“I think for now, with what we know, I expect Red Bull to still have the upper hand this weekend.
“Especially coming [on] race day, we have a particular strength at tracks where graining is a thing. In Australia, it was the case two weeks ago, and there we were very strong.
“This weekend, it’s less a case of front graining, but more overall degradation. So I think Red Bull will get back to where they were before that.”
Ferrari now sits just four points behind Red Bull, but the Monégasque believes that the standings do not represent the Scuderia’s real performance. However, he is happy that the team has managed to maximize the results so far, in such a crucial part of the season.
Meanwhile, he waits for new upgrades, which he hopes will help the team fight Red Bull more regularly on Sunday.
“It’s a very important part of the season where we need to maximize all the points that we can, which we have done,” he said.
“If we look at the first three races, I don’t think that being only four points behind Red Bull represents our true performance.
“Yes, we are closer than what we were in the past but I think we’ve done a particularly good job at maximizing what we have at the moment.
“Until the upgrades, which I hope will put us in a better position to fight them regularly on Sundays, we need to bring as many points home as possible.”