Leclerc targets first Ferrari title in 16 years

1 year ago 53

Charles Leclerc has acceptable his sights connected trying to triumph Ferrari's archetypal Formula 1 drivers' rubric for 16 years this season.

Leclerc, who finished 2nd to Red Bull's Max Verstappen past year, said helium believed Ferrari had done a "great job" connected their caller car, which was unveiled connected Tuesday.

"The extremity is to win, clearly," said the 25-year-old from Monaco. "I americium truly looking guardant to getting backmost successful the car and trying to triumph that championship."

Leclerc drove the car for the archetypal clip astatine the Fiorano trial way during the launch.

He said: "Last twelvemonth was a bully measurement forward. We request to bash conscionable the aforesaid this twelvemonth and hopefully get that championship. That is the people for the squad and for me, excessively - get much wins, hopefully beryllium much accordant from the archetypal contention to the past race."

His squad vigor was transmitted connected the broadcast and helium said the car "feels good".

Team-mate Carlos Sainz is owed to thrust the car aboriginal connected Tuesday.

The past Ferrari operator to triumph the World Championship was Kimi Raikkonen successful 2007, and the team's past since past has been 1 of adjacent misses - they came closest with Fernando Alonso successful 2010 and 2012 - and disappointment.

Their play successful 2022 was a large measurement guardant compared with their deficiency of competitiveness successful the 2 erstwhile years.

But though Leclerc established a comfy title pb aft the archetypal 3 races, the squad rapidly fell away, their twelvemonth torpedoed by strategy errors and reliability problems.

The repeated mistakes connected contention absorption led to erstwhile squad main Mattia Binotto leaving his station and helium has been replaced by Frederic Vasseur, formerly of Alfa Romeo-Sauber.

Ferrari's caller car for the 2023 season

The Frenchman said: "So acold it is intense. You tin consciousness the responsibility. But the astir important is to beryllium palmy - we person to deliver. The astir important is to triumph and the situation is successful beforehand of us.

"When you are astatine Ferrari coming from 2022, you can't person different nonsubjective than to win.

"I don't privation to enactment it volition beryllium casual due to the fact that Red Bull and Mercedes volition person the aforesaid people and lone 1 squad and operator volition win. But we request to person this benignant of target. We request to bring the mindset to bash a amended occupation time than contiguous and to beryllium ever trying to amended the system."

'It's much extreme'

The motorboat was held astatine Ferrari's Fiorano trial way successful beforehand of 500 tifosi - Italian fans - and the car volition tally connected way aboriginal successful the time with Leclerc astatine the wheel.

Ferrari caput of chassis Enrico Cardile described the car arsenic "an improvement of the car we raced past twelvemonth but successful world it has been wholly redesigned".

He said the nose, beforehand helping and beforehand suspension were wholly new, switching to a low-mounted way rod oregon steering limb from a higher one. The bodywork, Cardile said, "is much a continuation but it's much extreme".

Ferrari are expected to person a important measurement guardant connected motor show this twelvemonth arsenic a effect of fixing the reliability problems of past year.

These outgo Leclerc imaginable wins astatine the Spanish and Azerbaijan Grands Prix, and past forced the squad to tally the motor detuned for the remainder of the play to debar their recurrence.

Engine specifications are frozen successful F1 until 2025 but teams are allowed to marque changes for reliability reasons. Ferrari person done truthful and judge they volition present beryllium capable to tally the motor successful a higher show mode.

Sources adjacent to the squad accidental this volition mean a summation of astir 20bhp, oregon 0.2 seconds a thigh compared with the 2nd fractional of past year.

Vasseur said: "Last year, it was not a concealed that it was not the champion facet of the season, but we did a bully occupation astatine the mill and successful presumption of powerfulness we volition beryllium there. I deliberation we are successful a bully place."

Assistant squad main Laurent Mekies added: "We person learned immoderate of the things past twelvemonth the hard way.

"We are concentrating connected giving our radical the champion level to explicit themselves."