Charles Leclerc confident it’s “a matter of time” before Ferrari challenge Red Bull

Charles Leclerc believes Ferrari are the F1 team that have “improved the most” meaning it’s a “matter of time” before they can challenge Red Bull.

Ferrari have been Red Bull’s closest challengers in the opening two rounds.

Carlos Sainz finished third behind the two Red Bulls in Bahrain, while it was Leclerc who rounded out the top three in Saudi Arabia.

Still, the margin of Max Verstappen’s victories has been vast with Sainz finishing 25s off the lead.

In Saudi Arabia, Leclerc was just over 18s behind.

Reflecting on Jeddah, Leclerc explained why Ferrari are making “small steps in the right direction” despite a substantial deficit to Red Bull.

"It's been a positive race. I think we are doing small steps in the right direction," Leclerc said.

"If I look back the last six, seven months, we are the team that has improved the most and we are slowly closing the gap.

"The gap is still quite big, but if we keep working like that, I'm sure it's a matter of time before we put the Red Bull under a bit more pressure."

F1 heads to Melbourne next weekend for the Australian Grand Prix.

Leclerc ruled out any new upgrades for Ferrari, stressing the need to extract the most from the package.

"I don't think we'll have many things new in Melbourne, so without new things in Melbourne, I think we are doing a good job by maximising our package at the moment," Leclerc added.

"So, that's where we are. We'll probably have to wait and see whenever we have new parts to the car, what kind of step we do forward. And hopefully that will bring us closer to Red Bull."