Charles Leclerc names ‘biggest difference’ between Ferrari and Mercedes
Charles Leclerc believes the “big difference” between Mercedes and Ferrari is the optimism of the power unit but said the Italian outfit was still down on “raw power.”
Pre-season predictions of a dominant Mercedes has proven to be correct but in contrast to 2014, the customer teams have so far not been up to the speed of the works team.
Charles Leclerc identifies ‘big difference’ between Ferrari and Mercedes
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While Mercedes’ engine is clearly strong, the real trick to performance it would seem is how best to optimise it with the works team currently far ahead of customer teams McLaren, Alpine and Williams.
Ferrari meanwhile have at times looked the only team capable of a consistent challenge to Mercedes but Leclerc believes their power unit is where they are losing time.
Asked for what’s on his ‘shopping list’ in terms of upgrades, Leclerc said optimisation of the engine was key but suggested raw power was also down.
“We are still very early on in the season, so yes, I do believe it’s possible,” he said of catching Mercedes. “Is it a huge challenge? It absolutely is, and I think also because Mercedes is not relaxing and will keep pushing massively as well.
“The points of focus at this moment of the season, at this moment of these regulations, are many. Obviously, there is the optimisation of the power unit, that is probably the biggest difference between us and Mercedes at the moment. Just with the optimisation you can make a big difference.
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“Then of course there’s not only that, there’s also raw power, that for now we are down compared to them.”
While teams like Red Bull are struggling with their chassis, Leclerc has suggested Ferrari has no issues on that side and from that point of view, described the SF-26 as “a strong car.”
“Then on the chassis, just all the fine tunings that you can think of, that you always pinpoint at the beginning of the season where you try and understand what is the main limitation that is limiting you.
“We are starting to have quite a clear picture on what are the characteristics of the car that we need to improve in order to get better. But I think chassis-wise it is quite a strong car actually, and that’s probably our strength so far. Power unit is where we are lacking compared to Mercedes at the moment.”
Read next: How Lewis Hamilton is shaping Ferrari SF-26 development behind the scenes
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