#Leclerc admits | 2023 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix

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Ferraris race pace was just not good enough Leclerc admits | 2023 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix

Charles Leclerc says Ferrari’s race pace was “just not good enough” after recovering from 12th on the grid to finish seventh. The Ferrari driver qualified second behind pole winner Sergio Perez but was demoted ten places on the grid for exceeding his maximum allocation of power unit components. After starting on the soft tyres, Leclerc rose from 12th on the grid to eventually finish in seventh place, seven seconds behind team mate Sainz. “A good first stint, a good start,” Leclerc said. “I think really good management on the softs, which was positive.” He began to struggled for pace when he closed on team mate Carlos Sainz Jnr. “On the hard [tyre], I got within a second, one lap, to Carlos with the DRS. Then unfortunately I lost the DRS and then from that moment onwards you are losing too much downforce when you are one second to one-and-a-half and I was just staying there for the rest of the race.” After pitting for hard tyres just before the Safety Car when Lance Stroll retired, Leclerc was frustrated when his race engineer Xavier Marcos Padros failed to inform him that Lewis Hamilton ahead had pitted under Safety Car. “Try to push from Safety Car line one for Hamilton, he just pitted,” Marcos Padros radioed to his driver. “Xavi, you need to tell me that before!,” an exasperated Leclerc replied. “Come on!” “I thought we were clear and we weren’t fighting anybody,” Leclerc explained after the race. “So I was trying to take a bit of a gap to actually push on the tyre. “But then Xavi told me, I think just before the first corner, that we were fighting Hamilton and so I was too late for being on the limit of the delta.” After Ferrari struggled with tyre degradation in the opening race weekend in Bahrain, Leclerc said they enjoyed better performance in Saudi Arabia. However he was unhappy with the team’s overall performance. “There’s much less degradation here. So overall, I think this goes more our way,” he said. “But overall the pace is just not good enough. “Honestly, there wasn’t much more in the car today. That was the best we could do.” Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free 2023 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix Browse all 2023 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix articles via RaceFans - Independent Motorsport Coverage https://www.racefans.net/

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Verstappen admits hes been struggling to recover from illness as he seeks first win in Australia

As he looks to take his first Grand Prix victory in Australia, Max Verstappen has revealed he's still feeling the effects of an illness that he contracted before the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. Verstappen qualified 15th and finished second in Saudi Arabia, with the fastest lap bonus point giving him the championship lead over Red Bull team mate Sergio Perez heading into this weekend's Australian Grand Prix. Yet, the reigning champion said he has been dealing the after effects of an illness he caught earlier in March. NEED TO KNOW: The most important facts, stats and trivia ahead of the 2023 Australian Grand Prix Looking ahead to three-week break between Australia and Azerbaijan, Verstappen said: "I was not looking forward to [the break] but then I got really ill and have just been struggling a bit since that time, especially last race out, so I think for me now these three weeks are just about getting back to full fitness, getting a full programme in… "It felt like I was just missing a lung, and I got to the weekend [in Saudi Arabia] really believing that it was gone because normally when you get sick like two, three days after, you’re normally alright – you know, you can just do your workouts – but then when I jumped into the car in FP1, even just one performance lap, I felt like I had to recover for two laps to be able to breathe normally. Max Verstappen leads the championship by one point heading into Round 3 of the championship, at Albert Park "It definitely did affect me throughout the weekend, which I didn’t like because it was one of the first races where I felt like I was physically limited, and that’s really frustrating when you’re out in the car but since then I’ve been trying to work on it, trying to improve it, and I do think that it has improved a lot, so… this weekend should be alright," continued Verstappen. "I think it was just all coming together and Jeddah is quite a tough track in general; when you don’t feel well it hits hard on you but these things unfortunately happen when you catch a virus and stuff. So hopefully for the rest of the year it should be okay." DESTINATION GUIDE: What F1 fans can eat, see and do when they visit the Australian GP Verstappen now seeks to put behind him "frustrating" memories of last year's Australian Grand Prix, which saw him retire late on while Charles Leclerc took victory. "Yeah, last year was very frustrating here, being slow in the race, retiring from the race, but I think we also understood quite quickly after the weekend what we did wrong of course with the set-up… I think from then onwards it was quite alright in terms of reliability and of course we made big steps with the performance of the car," he recalled. This feature is currently not available because you need to provide consent to functional cookies. Please update your cookie preferences 2022 Australian Grand Prix: Mechanical failure forces Verstappen to retire Albert Park is one of the few tracks at which Verstappen has not won a Grand Prix, and the Dutchman said that could well change this weekend as Red Bull have finished on top in the opening two races of the season. FULL TRANSCRIPT: Read every word from Oscar Piastri's Beyond The Grid interview "Yeah, of course it was a bit different back then… because the last few years we’ve never really been that good in the beginning of the year so I think if this race would have been at a different place in the calendar then probably we would have had a lot better results here, but that’s not how it is. But yeah, for sure we do need a bit of a good result here," he said. "I think we have a good chance of course for a good result but we do need to execute a good weekend…" via Formula 1 News https://www.formula1.com

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Toto Wolff admits Hamilton will need to leave Mercedes if car does not improve

Toto Wolff has admitted he would not blame Lewis Hamilton for seeking a move away from Mercedes if the sport’s once-dominant team fails to reverse its slump. Hamilton’s £40m-a-year contract with the Silver Arrows expires at the end of the season and his future is under the microscope following their poor start to 2023. Hamilton was only fifth at the first round in Bahrain before he finished a distant 11th in practice on Friday for this weekend’s Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, one second adrift of Red Bull’s Max Verstappen. Although team principal Wolff remains convinced that Hamilton, 38, will pen a new deal, he also said that his star driver’s head could be turned as he pursues a record eighth world championship. “If Lewis wants to win another championship he needs to make sure he has the car,” said Wolff. “And if we cannot demonstrate that we are able to give him a car in the next couple of years then he will need to look everywhere. I don’t think he is doing it at this stage, but I will have no complaints if that happens in a year or two.” Red Bull could have a vacancy at the end of the year with Sergio Pérez operating on a 12-month deal, but it seems improbable that Hamilton would be paired alongside Verstappen. Ferrari is a possible avenue to explore if Charles Leclerc elects to engineer a move away. But Wolff added: “I am absolutely confident [Hamilton will stay]. We are talking when we want to do it, and how, but we just need to change some terms and the dates basically. Lewis is at the stage of his career where we trust each other, we have formed a great bond and we have no reason to doubt each other even though is a difficult spell. It will be so nice when we come out of the valley of tears and return to solid performances.” In Bahrain, Hamilton accused Mercedes of ignoring him on the development of this season’s machine. Here, the British driver, who on Friday announced a sudden split from his long-time ally and performance coach Angela Cullen, said “we all need a kick” and revealed “there are times when you are not in agreement with certain team members”. skip past newsletter promotion after newsletter promotion “There are emotions at play with him, with me and with many others in the team,” said Wolff. “We wear our hearts on our sleeves and sometimes you say things that are translated in a controversial or polarising way which inside the team never causes waves. “If I am watching a race that doesn’t go well I would also say, ‘I am not happy how the car has been developed’. That is OK. We want the emotions to be high and we want tough love and nobody is not going to take that on the chin in the team.” via Formula One | The Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/sport/formulaone

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Its not like everythings going wrong Vasseur urges calm as he pinpoints Ferraris biggest issue after first two races

Frederic Vasseur has played down Ferrari’s challenging start to the 2023 campaign, which has featured both performance and reliability concerns, but admits the Scuderia need to find some consistency moving forward if they are to join the fight at the front of the field. Ferrari have been in the mix for pole position at the two Grands Prix held so far this season but finished behind the Red Bulls and Fernando Alonso’s Aston Martin on race day at the Bahrain opener, before the Mercedes drivers also slotted ahead of them in Saudi Arabia. READ MORE: ‘There wasn’t much more in the car’ – Leclerc calls on Ferrari to improve ‘a lot’ after distant P7 finish in Jeddah That could have been different were it not for Charles Leclerc’s reliability problems, with an engine issue forcing him out from a podium position at Sakhir before subsequent power unit changes resulted in a 10-place grid penalty for the Jeddah weekend. With Vasseur only a few months into the Team Principal role at Maranello, and Leclerc publicly stating that Ferrari need to improve “a lot”, the Frenchman offered his own assessment of where the team stand and what’s next. “In this situation we have to think about the team and how we improve this situation, but I think we also have to stay calm – it’s not like everything is going wrong,” said Vasseur. Ferrari’s season started with a painful retirement for Leclerc in Bahrain “[In Saudi Arabia] we made some good improvements compared to Bahrain on the one-time pace at least, we opened a little bit the gap to our competitors, not to Red Bull but to Aston Martin and Mercedes. “I think the issue [during the race] was much more about the pace with the hard [compound tyre]; if you look at the weekend that’s something else.” READ MORE: Sainz says it’s ‘difficult to take positives’ from Ferrari’s Saudi Arabian weekend Asked if Red Bull can be caught after their back-to-back one-two finishes, Vasseur said: “I think so; we have to continue to push. It’s not the right attitude to think about the gap and think about will we be able to close the gap and so on. “We have to focus on ourselves, we know when we are weak and we have to improve on this one. We will see what is the outcome when we do a decent step. If you start to think about what could be the future potential with development, you are lost. Sainz and Leclerc were unable to make an impression in Saudi Arabia as Ferrari struggled on the hard tyres “We know we have to improve, but I think it’s the DNA of our sport, not just due to the current situation, but we know we have to work. We’ll continue and you can be sure from [the] morning [after the race] I’ll be in the office and push like hell.” As for whether Ferrari will bring anything new to their car for the next round of the season in Australia, Vasseur confirmed that upgrades are on the way – but again stressed the need to get the most out of their current package before making big changes. READ MORE: World’s first official Formula 1 Exhibition opens in Madrid with a host of incredible displays “I think we’ll have some small updates coming in the next week but honestly, I don’t think that it’s coming for the potential,” said the former Alfa Romeo team boss. “The main issue we have today – all over the weekend – is to be at our maximum and today [that] is not the case. We are not able to extract 100% of our car in every single session. We have to be focused on this before thinking about updates.” via Formula 1 News https://www.formula1.com

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Jeddah performance shows Ferrari have a lot of work to do Sainz | 2023 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix

The second race of the season showed Ferrari are not as close to the pace as they thought they were, Carlos Sainz Jnr admitted. Both the team’s drivers finished outside the top five yesterday, Sainz sixth ahead of team mate Charles Leclerc in seventh. Both drivers were disadvantaged by the appearance of the Safety Car shortly after they made their first pit stops. “It wasn’t the best timing because we were out there on the medium over-cutting Stroll and starting to show a bit of a better pace after struggling a lot in dirty air behind Stroll,” Sainz explained. “But I honestly think the result wouldn’t have changed much.” Sainz said the superior pace of the Red Bulls in the second half of the race underlined how far behind Ferrari are. “The last stint on the hard proves that we are not where we want to be, that we still deg[rade] more than the Mercs, we still deg more than the Astons and we lack a bit of race pace.” Ferrari arrived in Jeddah hoping to be the closest rivals to Red Bull. “I’m a bit surprised because after Friday and before the weekend, I thought that we had a chance of being the second force here in Jeddah,” said Sainz. “But I think that last stint on the hard proves that we still have a lot of work to do. We have a weakness in the race and that we need to wait for the developments to come to see if we can improve that weakness.” Ferrari’s poor tyre management is exacerbated when they run in the slipstream of other cars, said Sainz. Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free “Right now we are not where we want to be in terms of race pace and the car in general, the balance, even in dirty air following we just struggle a bit. If we already overheat the tyres in clean air, imagine following. We just eat them alive and we need clean air to produce some kind of decent lap time. Poll: Vote for your 2023 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix Driver of the Weekend “We know exactly our weaknesses, this is a positive. Obviously we cannot do magic to bring the developments early, but I know the team is pushing flat out to bring them and this will improve our race pace for sure.” Sainz indicated the team ran more downforce in Jeddah in an attempt to better manage their tyre degradation. “We didn’t run as low drag in Bahrain. Actually we ran a very similar rear wing as in Bahrain and this is probably why we were not as fast on the straights as maybe in Bahrain. In Bahrain we were maybe lower downforce than the others, here we were equal. “Our limitation [is not] the drag or the power, it’s race pace. It’s the deg, is some sensitivities that the car has in cornering and we know are not the right ones but we know and we will develop.” Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free 2023 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix Browse all 2023 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix articles via RaceFans - Independent Motorsport Coverage https://www.racefans.net/

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Perez details 'intense' finale after holding off Verstappen to win at Jeddah

Red Bull’s Sergio Perez held off a charging Max Verstappen to take his fifth career victory and first under the lights at Jeddah – and the Mexican driver said he enjoyed his drive to the top even if Verstappen was piling on the pressure. Perez qualified on pole position as Charles Leclerc was 0.155s off the pace on Saturday and Verstappen was eliminated in Q2 with a driveshaft issue. The reigning champion scythed through the field but ended up second to Perez by 5.355 seconds. READ MORE: Alonso loses P3 and 100th F1 podium after receiving 10s penalty in Saudi Arabian Grand Prix “No, I did enjoy the race to be honest. I enjoyed it a lot, especially at the end, just pushing each other with the lap times knowing that he went a tenth faster, tenth slower, tenth slower, and it was all pretty intense. Then we were told to maintain a certain pace, then I was told again to push then to maintain the pace – so it was just a bit all over the place,” said the race winner. Perhaps the only blip on his almost perfect day was the start, which saw Fernando Alonso get past Perez through the opening corners. This feature is currently not available because you need to provide consent to functional cookies. Please update your cookie preferences 2023 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix: Sergio Perez crosses the line to take his first victory of the season “I didn’t get a good launch, something I need to work on with the engineers to make sure we fix that, and Fernando just had a better start, and we lost a position, but I knew that it was not the end of the world – it’s a 50-lap race, it’s a pretty long one, and it’s more important to manage my tyres at the time, don’t get mad and making sure I was able to do my own race,” said Perez. The winner did admit that he had flashbacks to the 2022 Saudi Arabian GP, which saw Perez lose out from pole position when a Safety Car emerged and gave rivals an opportune time to pit for tyres. This year, there was a Safety Car at Jeddah – but this time, Perez capitalised on it. HIGHLIGHTS: Watch the action from a thrilling Saudi Arabian Grand Prix as Perez leads a Red Bull 1-2 “Once I got past Fernando, I could do… my race, but once again when that Safety Car came out, it reminded me all over of Jeddah last year again and I was like ‘not again’ but luckily we hadn’t pitted at the time so yeah, it was a new race after the Safety Car again. “Very early on, Max came back and we were basically towards the end just making sure we get that healthy gap between myself and Max but that meant we were pushing quite hard and trying to get to maintain the gap,” concluded Perez, who heads to Melbourne just one point behind his team mate in the drivers' standings. via Formula 1 News https://www.formula1.com

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Leclerc predicts midfield DRS train will make it hard to recover from 12th | 2023 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix

Charles Leclerc does not expect it will be easy to rise through the field from 12th on the grid in the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix because of to how compact the midfield is. The Ferraro driver qualified second for Sunday’s race at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit but will start ten places lower down the order after serving a grid penalty for using his third control electronics of the season. Despite having lapped closest to the time of pole winner Sergio Perez in the Red Bull, Leclerc says he does not expect it will be simple for him to rise up the order. “I don’t know how easy it’s going to be to overtake on this track because the midfield seems to be all extremely close in terms of race pace,” he said. “And if you have a DRS train, then it makes things very difficult. “But I’ll give my best and try to come back to the front as quickly as possible and we’ll see what happens.” Despite getting within a tenth-and-a-half of Perez’s pole-winning Red Bull, Leclerc believes Ferrari still have a lot of work to do in order to pose a credible challenge to the world champions. “In the lap, I’m really, really happy – it was really on the limit,” he said. “On the other hand, I feel like the Red Bulls are quite far ahead. And that is our goal – to beat them. So there’s still a lot of work to do. “Having said that, I think it’s a bit better than what we expected for this qualifying session. We expected to be a bit further back, but there’s a lot of work to do still.” While admitting Ferrari’s race pace is stronger in Jeddah than in the opening round in Bahrain, Leclerc said it had been a difficult weekend for the team to try and extract performance from the SF-23. “To be honest, if you ask me to pinpoint one thing, it’s very difficult,” he said. “It’s just that we were quite slow. Just overall grip to be honest. “I think our race pace is stronger this weekend, so this is a good thing.” Become a RaceFans Supporter RaceFans is run thanks in part to the generous support of its readers. By contributing £1 per month or £12 per year (or the same in whichever currency you use) you can help cover the costs of creating, hosting and developing RaceFans today and in the future. Become a RaceFans Supporter today and browse the site ad-free. Sign up or find out more via the links below: Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free 2023 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix Browse all 2023 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix articles via RaceFans - Independent Motorsport Coverage https://www.racefans.net/

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Ferrari drivers confident their race pace will be better than Bahrain after practice | 2023 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix

Ferrari’s drivers are confident the team will be more competitive in Sunday’s Saudi Arabian Grand Prix than they were in the season-opening race two weeks ago. Carlos Sainz Jnr, the only Ferrari driver to reach the chequered flag in Bahrain, finished 48 seconds behind winner Max Verstappen. But after the opening day of practice yesterday he was cautiously optimistic. “I personally feel a bit closer than in Bahrain,” said Sainz, who was 10th fastest after Friday practice at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit. “Obviously engine modes and the position today doesn’t reflect our true pace. In the long runs we definitely look a bit more competitive. So I’m more positive going into the weekend knowing that Red Bull is the clear favourite and Aston Martin and Mercedes are there with us.” Sainz lapped just under three-tenths of a second slower than team mate Charles Leclerc in second practice. According to Sainz’s race engineer Ricardo Adami he gave away a tenth of a second each in turns four and 27 to his team mate, and a further tenth when his power unit de-rated on his quickest lap. Leclerc ended practice seven-tenths of a second off Verstappen. In Bahrain he qualified less than three tenths of a second behind the Red Bull driver, despite forfeiting his last run to save a set of tyres for the race. Speaking after finishing practice in ninth place yesterday, Leclerc said “I don’t think we are that bad.” Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free “Honestly the feeling is pretty good, but it’s very difficult to read into the performance because everybody’s doing very different things with power, weight, et cetera. Probably more different than other years. Analysis: Red Bull retain their advantage in Jeddah but Alpine have joined the chasing pack “So it’s a bit more difficult to read the Friday and the free practice session. But the feeling was quite okay and the race pace seems to be better than Bahrain, so that’s positive.” Ferrari’s low straight-line speed compared to its rivals indicated the team had not used its most powerful engine modes after changing components in both drivers’ power units. Leclerc admitted “we have quite a bit in the locker” after practice. “How much, let’s see. I’m sure Red Bull also has something still hidden. So we’ll see tomorrow but I think it will be closer than what it is for now.” Leclerc will take a 10-place grid penalty after exceeding his allocation of control electronic units just one race into the new season. He raised queries about his power unit on his radio during practice, but said afterwards there had been nothing to worry about. “There was nothing wrong,” he said. “There was a few events where I have shifted on kerbs or things like this, which doesn’t put the engine in the best situation, so I complained just to make sure that everything was fine, but everything is fine. So that’s good.” Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free 2023 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix Browse all 2023 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix articles via RaceFans - Independent Motorsport Coverage https://www.racefans.net/

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Lewis Hamilton tips rivals Red Bull to 'run away' with the world championship

Lewis Hamilton continues his Mercedes moans as he tips rivals Red Bull to 'run away' with the world championship unless FERRARI 'can stop them' Lewis Hamilton has tipped Red Bull to 'run away' with the F1 championship The seven-time world champion remains unhappy with his Mercedes car Hamilton believes Ferrari will be Red Bull's closest competitors this season  By Ryan Walker For Mailonline Published: 13:23 EDT, 16 March 2023 | Updated: 13:23 EDT, 16 March 2023 Lewis Hamilton's rumblings with Mercedes have continued after the seven-time world champion again insisted Red Bull were in a position to dominate this season. Mercedes have struggled to get their car up to championship-competing standards as Hamilton failed to make a first podium of the year in the season's opening grand prix in Bahrain. Hamilton analysed Red Bull's expected dominance as drivers arrived in the Saudi Arabian city of Jeddah ahead of Sunday's second gp of the season and admitted his fears that the Max Verstappen-led team will 'run away' with the drivers championship, despite there being 22 races left in the calendar.   'In the race [in Bahrain] they [Red Bull] were not pushing so they were a lot quicker than they seemed,' said Hamilton.  'They are a second-and-a-half a lap faster in the race. They will run away with it this year unless Ferrari can stop them,' he added. The English driver's concerns carry some weight after Red Bull outclassed the rest of the grid with ease to achieve a one-two driver finish in the opening event of the season. Reigning world champion Verstappen topped the podium with an 11 second advantage over his team-mate Sergio Perez and a 50 second lead over Hamilton who finished fifth. Ferrari have been largely tipped to be Red Bull's closest competitors with Charles Leclerc hoping to rival Verstappen in a bid to win a first world championship.  Mercedes aren't expected to be serious competitors in the Middle East on Sunday but could be set for major improvements in Baku at the end of April. Teams are allowed to introduce new upgrade packages at the Azerbaijan gp, with McLaren also expected to make wholesale changes to their car.  Share or comment on this article: Lewis Hamilton tips rivals Red Bull to 'run away' with the world championship via Formula One | Mail Online https://www.dailymail.co.uk?ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490&ito=1490