Ferrari must stay realistic about chances – Leclerc

Despite consecutive Formula 1 wins Charles Leclerc has warned Ferrari must remain realistic as he braces for a tough Singapore Grand Prix next time out.

The Monegasque driver clinched his maiden F1 Grand Prix victories back-to-back at Spa-Francorchamps and Monza, tracks which were expected to play to the strengths of the Ferrari package, to give the Scuderia some long-awaited winning momentum after last taking victory at the 2018 United States GP with Kimi Raikkonen.

But the 21-year-old has urged against getting carried away by Ferrari’s situation as he doesn’t expect to dominate at the next round in Singapore.

The Marina Bay Street Circuit is traditionally a track suited to high downforce packages with a demand on low-to-mid speed cornering, a weakness Ferrari has been exposed to at times this season with its SF90.

“We need to stay realistic. I think we expected that Spa and Monza would be very good races for our car but we also know that the next few races will be a lot more difficult for our car,” Leclerc said.

“So, we need to be realistic and, yeah, it’s not going to be easy. I think especially Singapore.

“I think it will be a nice surprise if we are better than what we expect – but what we expect – but we expect to struggle there. We’ll see in two weeks.”

Ferrari introduced its upgraded engine at Monza, with the customer teams Alfa Romeo and Haas debuting it at the round before in Belgium, while a final upgrade package is expected over the next few rounds before all F1 teams tend to shift development focus completely to next year’s car.