It’s clear that the Ferrari SF21 is a much better model than last year’s woeful SF1000, so much so that Charles Leclerc has rallied the troops in Maranello after qualifying an impressive fourth place for Sunday’s Emilia Romagna Grand Prix.
Although still nowhere near the benchmark set by Mercedes and Red Bull this season, the Ferrari was better than perhaps they expected at Imola.
Leclerc, who crashed his car during FP2 on Friday, recovered in the best possible way, that is, delivering fourth on the grid for his home race, and only three tenths of the fastest time.
He trumpeted later: “There is a lot of motivation in the team, a good momentum. We need to use it and keep working as hard as possible as a team, keep our feet on the ground and keep pushing like we’ve been doing for the last few months.
“Then I’m sure the good morning will come soon.”
A rallying cry if ever there was one from the Little Prince of Maranello who humiliated new teammate Carlos Sainz that day; Make that half a second of humble pie that swallowed the Spaniard who is still learning to start a Ferrari on the cutting edge.
Regarding his afternoon of work, Leclerc reported: “It was a very good qualifying, although I think we struggled a bit more compared to yesterday to achieve the lap times we wanted.
“We made a small compromise in terms of set-up that will help us in tomorrow’s race. He made it a bit more difficult in qualifying so let’s wait and see. I made a little mistake on the chicane, maybe I could have won another 7 or 8 hundredths there, but looking at the timesheets it wouldn’t have changed our position so I’m very happy with fourth place today.
“The track is amazing. I love it because you can’t afford to make mistakes. There’s not a lot of tire management involved, which is something we drivers like, because it means we can push for the whole race.
While the race is now billed as Lewis Hamilton against Red Bull, Leclerc is well positioned to seize any opportunity that may arise as the trio up front fight for the top step of the podium.
Leclerc ventured: “It should be an exciting but difficult race. We lack a bit of speed in a straight line so hopefully we have a good pace to escape.
“If not, it will be a bit more difficult, but I think our overall performance is better here than in Bahrain. At Sakhir it was a real surprise to be P4 on the grid, today a little less, ”added Leclerc.
Ferrari racing director Laurent Mekies was impressed: “Charles secured the same grid position as in Bahrain thanks to what was overall, another great performance, something that is becoming almost the norm for him and a further confirmation of his great talent.
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