Probably the most troublesome second in Ferrari’s 2024 marketing campaign additionally confirmed how a lot they’ve progressed beneath crew principal Frederic Vasseur, driver Charles Leclerc believes.
“We’ve improved loads and I believe that has made the distinction in recovering faster each time we get in these moments which might be a bit tougher to handle,” he mentioned in response to a query from RaceFans when chatting with media on Wednesday.
Whereas a lot consideration has been centered on the arrival of megastar signing Lewis Hamilton, Leclerc is heading into his seventh season within the distinctive stress cooker setting of Ferrari. He has by no means hidden his admiration for the calming affect Vasseur introduced since he arrived on the crew two years in the past, and Leclerc says Ferrari is now in higher form than he ever knew it beneath predecessor Mattia Binotto.
“I’m assured to say that it’s been the very best crew mentality that I’ve seen since I’ve been right here,” he advised media together with RaceFans this week.
Nonetheless Leclerc is aware of higher than to construct expectations too excessive. “I keep in mind 2019 was my first day in Ferrari and I bought there and I used to be so assured after the take a look at as a result of it went effectively after which I used to be so upset after the primary race that I promised myself to not have any expectations going ahead. So I don’t actually have any expectations.
“However as a matter of reality, the mentality and the place we’re as a crew is in a very good place in the meanwhile. And of that, I’m very completely satisfied.”
“Competitiveness could be very troublesome to guage as a result of I don’t know what McLaren or Pink Bull might need discovered of their improvement progress, or Mercedes as effectively. So on that, we have to wait slightly bit extra. However mentality-wise and the best way we work is at an excellent stage and on that I’m very completely satisfied.”
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Hamilton will not be the one current main signing to reach at Ferrari from Mercedes. Vasseur additionally lured Jerome D’Ambrosio to function his deputy, whereas Loic Serra will head up work on the chassis as technical director. Leclerc says each deliver the identical calming affect which he sees as a traditional Vasseur trait.
“What I actually like about them is that they’re similar to Fred in the best way they course of feelings, which is an effective factor,” he mentioned. “You communicate to Fred, you communicate to Jerome, you communicate to Loic and also you get the identical feeling.
“That’s an excellent factor as a result of it’s a giant crew so not everyone speaks with Fred and never everyone speaks with Jerome, not everyone speaks to Loic. However all three collectively communicate with lots of people inside Ferrari and to have the identical vibe and the identical feeling out of Loic, Jerome and Fred is an important factor.
“They handle feelings very, very effectively, and in a crew like Ferrari the place feelings can run extraordinarily excessive, I’ve at all times mentioned it’s an ideal factor.”
Ferrari was not the one crew which encountered issues with its automotive improvement final yr – Pink Bull, Mercedes and most groups hit hassle at instances. However Leclerc says the calmness Vasseur has instilled means they reply extra successfully to setbacks.
That is notably vital as chasing lap time with the present technology of floor impact vehicles has change into more and more troublesome, as Leclerc defined.
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“I believe that it’s embedded on this new regulation of vehicles,” he mentioned. “We clearly are likely to drive these vehicles very, very low to the bottom, which we’re touching loads. And everytime you contact [the ground]… it’s very, very troublesome to breed the bottoming in wind tunnel or CFD. In order that makes it notably troublesome for this technology of vehicles.
“That creates lots of the issues that typically you see groups that didn’t anticipate any of what’s occurring on-track to occur. Perhaps there are methods to foretell it in a greater means, we’ve labored on these methods as a lot as doable, however clearly each time this occurs it’s as a result of there’s one thing that you simply didn’t predict that occurred and which may occur once more.
“In these instances, I believe the strategy to fixing the issue is super-important. I believe we turned rather more strong at it and that comes again to the crew mentality and the best way we strategy issues and the emotion administration inside groups. We’ve improved loads and I believe that has made the distinction in recovering faster each time we get in these moments which might be a bit tougher to handle.”
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Heading into the brand new season, Ferrari faces a special problem in comparison with 12 months in the past, says Leclerc, as their earlier automotive was not weak in any particular space on the finish of final season. “On the finish of 2023, I believe it was very clear which traits of the automotive we wished to deal with, as a result of there have been some points that had been very clear that we needed to change.
“In 2024 it was a really totally different state of affairs as a result of I believe the automotive was a really wholesome one basically. Simply after we had the improve drawback there have been some issues that we wished to vary. However after that we had an excellent automotive, we simply wanted extra efficiency. In order that’s the place we focussed actually for this new automotive, to do small steps in each single factor and never focus in a single explicit factor.”
Having solely had a preliminary shakedown run with its new automotive on Wednesday, Leclerc mentioned the crew must wait and see whether or not the modifications to it, similar to the brand new entrance pull-rod suspension, work as meant.
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“It’s very troublesome to really feel that on a Thursday on a monitor like Fiorano with such chilly situations,” he mentioned. “We are going to most certainly see much more in Bahrain.
“Nonetheless, the scope of a day like that is to to begin with see the primary numbers, to see if there’s nothing standing out. The primary feeling, to see if there’s nothing standing out in a detrimental means, clearly. And nothing is popping out from that so which means it’s a constructive first day. However greater than that, it’s very troublesome to say.”
Avoiding the sort of improvement issues which struck final yr is only one space the place the crew should enhance, says Leclerc. “One other one was the truth that we had been simply not aggressive sufficient for an excessive amount of, for too huge of part of the season,” he defined.
“We have to rectify that and begin this new season on a greater foot and to be on par at the very least with the blokes within the entrance with the intention to battle immediately from the start of the season. Our season was a really, very strong one, however we had been simply not quick sufficient within the first half.”
However he’s inspired by the potential he sees on the crew, and believes Hamilton has chosen the precise time to affix them.
“To ensure that us to win the world championship, we undoubtedly want to start out these first races immediately on prime or at the very least combating with the others,” mentioned Leclerc. “However we’ve completed a very, actually good job within the second half of the season. We’ve been working very well and I hope we will use this momentum with the intention to to start out robust this yr. Let’s see the way it goes.”
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