‘More flexible’ Ferrari should be “step forward” - Leclerc

Charles Leclerc believes added “flexibility” in Ferrari’s 2020 Formula 1 car will help the team improve its performances at tracks it struggled at last season.

Ferrari’s SF90 concept was fast but proved inconsistent as the Italian squad failed to get on top of its complex design until after the summer break when it claimed three victories and six pole positions in a row, before fading again in the latter rounds.

While Ferrari’s 2019 car’s strengths came on the straights and high-speed sections, it struggled to match its rivals Mercedes and Red Bull in slower corners, highlighted by its struggles at tracks like Monaco and Hungary.

But Leclerc is confident that Ferrari’s latest challenger, the SF1000, will have a wider set-up range that should benefit it at different circuit types this year.

“There’s quite a lot of work behind the scenes,” Leclerc said.

“Last year there were noting all my comments so they obviously know me a lot better as a driver and what I need to perform at my best on track.

“They tried to have the flexibility in the car set-up to fit my driving style, which will be the biggest difference for this year. This should be a step forward. 

"For sure we’ve got more flexibility in the car setup for this year, so this is always a good thing for both drivers because we adapt the details more in the car to our driving,” he added.

“We didn’t push the car yet but we know we have more flexibility, this is fact.”

Asked if this approach was to help deal with Leclerc and Vettel’s contrasting driving styles, Leclerc replied: “Yes and no.

“I don’t think this was the main reason to do that, the main reason to do that is that we’ve seen last year in some races we’ve been very strong, in some others we’ve been struggling quite a bit more.

“And being able to adapt the car to different tracks, we need more flexibility in terms of set-up.

“For sure it will help us but it’s not like we are going from one extreme to another on both of our driving styles. It will just help us on the tracks we’ve been struggling at last year.”