Ferrari had arrived in Melbourne with the awareness that it could aspire to something more than third place. In the first two races, in Bahrain and Jeddah the fight with Red Bull it could only be achieved in qualifying, given that the Austrian team's dominance in the race was clear. Nevern Australia, the feeling that things could have gone differently began to spread in the Ferrari garage as soon as the two SF-24s took part in the first free practice of the weekend. The pace was there, the speed was there, but the degradation wasn't, only one unknown remained: Red Bull. In qualifying, Verstappen's lead and a few too many errors from Leclerc and Sainz prevented Ferrari from taking pole in Australia. However, in the race the response was not long in coming, and a historic one-two arrived. There are those who attributed Sainz's victory in Melbourne to luck given Verstappen's retirement, but for Charles Leclerc it was much more than luck. Rather, it's a show of strength. A signal that invites everyone to continue a season that seemed already written.
Charles Leclerc: “I realized that we could aspire to victory and Pole from FP1”
Leclerc already knew that Ferrari had more than one opportunity to challenge for Pole, and also to risk victory. He understood it during FP1, when he saw the pace of the SF-24. Always with the unknown of what Red Bull would do. Because the biggest problem is precisely that of positioning oneself, on a scale of values, compared to another team. Verstappen's retirement undoubtedly hid some of the truth. Despite this, however, Ferrari was able to have its own personal response to the requests and challenges of this circuit. An answer that met the expectations of the team who are now traveling at great speed towards the next appointment.
“This result is extremely important for us – says Leclerc at the end of the weekend in Australia. It's been a long time since we had a pace to have the Red Bull – I wouldn't say under control, because we don't know what Max's real pace was today. However right from FP1, we knew that pole position and race victory were possible because we had excellent tire degradation, excellent pace. It's a very encouraging sign."
It is important to maximize the result
However, the victory in Melbourne must not distract Ferrari from working to achieve perfection. Again according to Leclerc: “If you look at the first three races, in two of the first three Red Bull had the upper hand. So, we still have a lot of work to do. There wasn't a race in which we didn't maximize the result. We have to do this until we have a car that is consistently better than Red Bull, especially in the race.”
