During the Austin press conference on US GP, Leclerc expressed his statements regarding the progress of his Ferrari in Qatar and on the set-up for Sunday.
Leclerc, US GP: “I hope to be faster”
Unlike Carlos Sainz, who couldn't even start last race weekend in Qatar due to a fuel tank problem, Leclerc answers the following question:
In terms of performance, the Ferrari didn't seem very fast in the last race in Qatar. Think that will you be closer this weekend?
"I hope so: on paper, Qatar was probably one of the worst tracks for us, due to the conditions but also due to the characteristics of the track itself. Having said that, I think that on sprint weekends the thing that has the most influence is how free practice 1 goes, because after FP1 you can no longer change the car. So the priority is to approach PL1 well and then immediately find a good set-up. Which will be crucial for the rest of the weekend, much more than the characteristics of our car suit the track."
A matter of priority
Shorter and more concise than the interview with teammate Carlos Sainz, Leclerc is asked a final question in view of the pre-weekend declarations on the US GP:
There are three fast sectors on this track: what will you focus on in terms of assetto of car?
"Clearly in high speed you need a bit of confidence, but what we have lacked the most in the last few races have been the medium and low speed corners, so we will focus more on those..” This track, therefore, is more suitable for a better performance of the Ferraris compared to others, such as that of Qatar. We need to wait at least for the PL1 session, as stated by Charles, to understand how the Maranello team will be able to maximize results.
