Charles Leclerc has admitted that he knew something wasn’t quite right with Ferrari’s 2023 car from day one, when he instantly got a “strange feeling” from the car.
It’s been a disappointing first half of 2023 for Leclerc, who finds himself in fifth in the Drivers’ Championship after 12 races.
Given how much he’s struggled, the Monegasque has done well to get himself into P5 and seven points ahead of team-mate Carlos Sainz.
Leclerc has once again shown strong pace at times; however, he’s been unable to perform consistently due to the SF-23.
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At the likes of Azerbaijan, Austria and Belgium, Ferrari looked very strong; however, they’ve struggled virtually everywhere else.
As a result, Leclerc is yet to claim a victory this season, with his best accomplishment having been second at the Austrian Grand Prix.
He’s overall claimed three podiums and one pole position, which came at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
When the car hasn’t clicked with a venue though, the 25-year-old has struggled to even break into the top five.
Ferrari have been fourth in the pecking order for a lot of the campaign so far, making their P4 in the Constructors’ Championship fairly unsurprising.
They find themselves a staggering 312 points behind Red Bull already, although things have started to look more positive since they introduced a large upgrades package.
Ferrari have a long way to go to solve all their issues though, with Leclerc admitting that he knew instantly in pre-season that something wasn’t right with the car.
“During the first test laps, there was a strange feeling,” Leclerc told Corriere della Sera.
“Something didn’t feel right at all in the balance of the car. Only later did I discover that the performance also left something to be desired”.
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2023 has been a very different season for Leclerc compared to 2022, where for the first half of the season he challenged Max Verstappen for the title.
He claimed three wins in the first half of the season last year, something which has made him not enjoy his podiums this campaign so far.
That’s nice yes, but I didn’t really enjoy it. The memory of 2022 is too fresh,” Leclerc admitted. “We should not settle for second or third place, but Ferrari deserves to win.”