Since the new ground-effect regulations, Ferrari has experienced mixed emotions. The first season in 2022 saw the Scuderia put up a genuine fight to Red Bull for the first half of the season. Leclerc was winning races back and forth to Verstappen. However, the Austrian team outdeveloped the Maranello team to comfortably win in 2022.
The following season in 2023 was worse for Ferrari. The Italian team only managed one win through Carlos Sainz in Singapore – the only non-Red Bull winning race of 2023.
The same story as 2023 could be happening, as Verstappen has comfortably won the opening two rounds of the season. Leclerc earned his first podium finish of the season last weekend in Jeddah. The Monegasque’s teammate Sainz reached the final step on the podium a week earlier in Bahrain.
t is clear that Ferrari are the second-quickest team. The previous season saw the Maranello team struggle with race pace. However, issues with race pace are believed to have been improved for this season.
Despite finishing 18 seconds adrift of Verstappen in Jeddah, the Monegasque still sees positives. The Ferrari driver believes that his team has made progress from last season, leading to him believing that his team can put pressure on Red Bull as the season progresses.
“It’s been a positive race. I think we are doing small steps in the right direction,” Leclerc said, as quoted by Motorsport.com. “If I look back the last six, seven months, we are the team that has improved the most and we are slowly closing the gap.”
The 26-year-old admits that the gap between themselves and Red Bull is still “quite big”. However, that has not killed his optimism for the rest of the 2024 season:
