Leclerc: Ferrari’s recent form not as bad as it looks

Charles Leclerc says Ferrari’s recent form has been as bad as it has looked after failing to win any of the last three races, but has identified areas in which he can improve his own performance.

Ferrari has scored pole position for each of the last six races, five of which have come courtesy of Leclerc, but is without a win since Sebastian Vettel’s victory at the Singapore Grand Prix over a month ago.

Mercedes has managed to get the jump on raceday to win all of the last three races, leaving Leclerc looking for areas in which he can improve heading into this weekend’s United States Grand Prix.

“I believe on my side, I’ve not been perfect for sure, especially in the race. I’ve got a lot of improvements to do on my side,” Leclerc said.

“I believe that in Mexico, I learned actually quite a lot. Obviously from the outside it is quite difficult to see, but on the driving style and things, I tried quite a lot of things during the race, and I have a clear idea of what to try here.

“Then we’ve been unlucky in some races. Obviously I think Sochi could have been another win, but we could not control the failure of Seb which created a Virtual Safety Car, and then it went downwards.

“So there have been a few missed opportunities, but I don’t think it’s as bad as it looks.”

Leclerc started from pole in Mexico last weekend and led the opening stint of the race before a decision to run a two-stop strategy backfired, dropping him to fourth at the flag.

Leclerc said he is growing in confidence when it comes to deciding strategy, and that he hopes to learn from his Mexico defeat as a result.

“I believe I can have a better influence on my strategy especially. The last race, there were definitely more things I could do as a driver to help the team make a better decision,” Leclerc said.

“This is part of the learning process, and I need to get over it as much as possible and as quickly as possible to try and not do these mistakes again.”

Additional reporting by Julianne Cerasoli.