Charles Leclerc believes Ferrari have a realistic chance of winning the constructors’ championship following their emphatic one-two in the United States Grand Prix.
He finished eight seconds ahead of team mate Carlos Sainz Jnr and almost 20 ahead of Max Verstappen, after Lando Norris’ penalty dropped him behind the Red Bull driver.
Leclerc said the result was the best indication yet the team has made real progress since introducing an upgrade package at the Italian Grand Prix. Since then he has won twice and come close to victory in Azerbaijan.
However he admitted it’s “very difficult” to judge which of the remaining tracks are likely to suit them best.
“We’ve said [for] two or three races in Monza, in Baku, in Singapore, we brought a few upgrades and we were always waiting for Austin because it was going to be the real test for those upgrades. And they seem to be working all good so that is positive for the future.
“It doesn’t mean that we’ll be having every Sunday the way it’s been today, but it means that we are working in the right direction and that can only be positive. So I hope we can reproduce these kind of results more often.”
The result leaves Ferrari within eight places of Red Bull and 46 points behind championship leaders McLaren with 250 points available over the remaining rounds. Leclerc said Ferrari have “got to target winning the constructors’ title” now.
“It’s an optimistic goal, but that’s what we are here for. So we’ll do the maths at the end of the season.
“Until then, I think the best thing we can do is to focus on ourselves, on our own performance, just like we did this weekend. It’s been a really good weekend for the team and for the constructors’ title. And we’ll try and reproduce that as often as possible. And hopefully at the end of the year, when we do the maths, we will have won the constructors’ title.”
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2024 United States Grand Prix
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