F1 | Leclerc: “Red Bull has a big advantage, but we have to close the gap”

There are fewer and fewer days left until Tuesday 13 February, the day on which the Ferrari will unveil the single-seater with which he will take part in the 2024 Formula 1 World Championship. Discussing the next red car, Charles Leclerc he expressed his emotion in having accompanied the SF-24 project step by step, first in the simulator and subsequently with the real presence in the factory of the new one born in Maranello.

Furthermore, the Monegasque, who is preparing to share the Prancing Horse garage for the last few months with Carlos Sainz while waiting to welcome Lewis Hamilton starting from 2025, he admitted that his main objective is to win the championship even if to do so he will have to get the upper hand in the comparison with a Red Bull (and with Max Verstappen) which appears very difficult to defeat in the short and medium term .

Last season, Ferrari was the only team capable of interrupting Red Bull's long streak of consecutive victories, managing to get the better of the Milton Keynes team by prevailing in the Marina Bay event with Carlos Sainz. A success, the one signed by the Spaniard, which did not allow the Anglo-Austrian team to win all the races in the championship, thus stopping at 21 triumphs in 22 events.

“Winning the championship is my only goal – declared Leclerc, as reported by the Daily Mail – I'm only happy when I win, my goal is not second place. We all want to win, but looking at where we started from last year, Red Bull has a big advantage. So now we need to close the gap as much as possible. We will do absolutely everything to try to take that step, the goal is to challenge them."

Leclerc then, continuing with his own thoughts, said: “I'm just super excited because there's so much work to do right now. We started developing the new car many months ago, first in the Maranello simulator and then we will see it in reality. I was thrilled to see it as a base model without paint. We will also be able to drive it for the first time at the presentation next week, I can't wait."

The Monegasque then added: “There are many question marks. Of course we drove the car, but then it remains to test it in reality, if everything corresponds to what we tested in the simulator, which normally happens when everything goes in the right direction."