F1 | Leclerc believes in the development of the SF-24, Sainz more doubtful

Since Formula 1 entered the new technical cycle of ground effect, it is necessary to distinguish the moment in which a team brings updates to the track from that in which it begins to enjoy the benefits. Often the two things coincide, but not always.

McLaren confirms itself as a sniper on this front, every change that has debuted on the single-seater has immediately given the expected answers. At Ferrari the situation is different at the moment, there is confidence in the updates that debuted in Barcelona but so far the results have not been seen. At Silverstone on the two SF-24s there will be no news, the objective is to try to understand what is already on the single-seater and optimize the existing package.

“Whenever you bring a new package to the track you have to make sure you optimize it as quickly as possible,” Leclerc explained. “Otherwise you are left behind and you watch others improve. When we get to the point where we can make the most of our package, we will make a step forward. There is no point in giving up on making progress. It is definitely a risk worth taking.”

Carlos Sainz’s vision is a bit different, okay with the risks but, if necessary, it is also worth taking a step back. “The new package still has potential to express – commented the Spaniard – but in the short term I think the priority is to understand if we have taken a step in the right direction or not. It is an important step because it will also help us understand how to direct future development. We have realized that since the Barcelona weekend we have been less competitive than before and this obviously fuels our concerns a bit about the quality of the package”.

It made headlines to hear drivers talking about ‘bouncing’ again, but according to Leclerc it’s really just how far they’re pushing the setup.
“It’s not something that has resurfaced with our update,” Charles was keen to stress. “In the end, it’s a question of where you want to put the car. If you push in one direction, you know you’re going to run the risk of bumping, but there’s also performance in that direction.”

“We want to work further on this update to find the compromise that can guarantee us maximum performance, we are focusing on this objective. I think we learned a lot in the last race, there was the possibility of going on track with two very different configurations and with very different set-ups, now I hope that what we have done will help us to better address these problems starting from tomorrow”.

Leclerc’s optimism was very striking, especially when you consider the less than rosy predictions that Charles himself had made (about Silverstone) on Sunday evening in Spielberg. In between, there was a day in the simulator (Monday in Maranello, then replaced by Sainz the following day) and a long debrief with the engineers.
“It’s something that can be solved in the short term,” Leclerc added. “We already have some ideas about where we want to push, we saw some big differences between the two cars in the last race. Ultimately it’s about finding two tenths, we saw the difference that such a small gap made in Austria.”