As is the tradition, teams usually bring the first packages of upgrades once the European leg of the season commences. Ferrari’s packages expected them to be closer to Red Bull.
Friday sessions saw impressive Ferrari with Charles Leclerc topping both sessions. However, Saturday and Sunday rounds put Ferrari slightly behind both Red Bull and McLaren.
In the end, the Monegasque driver led the Maranello-based outfit to third place behind ultimate winner Max Verstappen and second-placed Lando Norris. His teammate finished a race in 4th place successfully fending off attacks from Oscar Piastri in the middle of the race.
The surprise drop of pace by the red team, Charles Leclerc commented and contributed it to a power strategy that made them slower than Red Bull and McLaren.
“We had a slightly different power strategy compared to McLaren and Red Bull, and we lost everything on the run down to Turn 2 – Max, on top of that, had the slipstream.”
Albeit a sudden drop in performance, Leclerc optimistically noted how these upgrades are not a real sign of pace at the track hard to overtake like Imola is.
“The good thing is that everything we expected from those upgrades, we had it in terms of data. It did exactly what it was supposed to do, which is always a good thing.” – 3rd place finisher said.