Charles Leclerc: We will draw conclusions in Bahrain

On Tuesday, Ferrari’s press service presented the new SF-24 and published an interview with Charles Leclerc. The Monegasque says he is satisfied with the preparations for the new season, but proposes to wait for the tests and the first race in Bahrain before assessing the balance of power.

Question: What was your impression when you first saw the SF-24?
Charles Leclerc: The new car looks great! When you see a new product for the first time, you experience special emotions. The machine was the result of many months of work by all employees at the base and countless discussions between engineers.

I liked the color scheme. Now there is more yellow in the coloring, but at the same time we have kept the red color, which I am very happy with!

Question: Have you tried the new product on the simulator yet? What impressions has she left behind?
Charles Leclerc: The car left a good impression on the simulator. The SF-24 is definitely a step up from last year’s car. As always, we focused on improving the weak points of its predecessor, and I can say that in the simulator the car responds very well to all inputs.

Now it is important to understand how well the data obtained on the simulator correlates with the real machine. We will understand this during the tests in Bahrain, which will be a crucial moment when we find out whether we have managed to do a good job. So far there are no problems – tests conducted on the simulator have given positive results.

Question: What differences do you expect the SF-24 will have from last year’s car?
Charles Leclerc: Last year the team had a difficult season, but we did well and had a clear idea in which direction we needed to go to achieve better results in 2024. I am confident that the team has done an excellent job and have no doubt that the difficulties we had will not be repeated in the new season.

Question: What key areas does the car need to improve on this year?
Charles Leclerc: The main area we worked on was making the car less sensitive to changes in track conditions. Last year the car was very fast in ideal conditions, but as soon as one of the factors changed – temperature, direction or wind speed – it had a huge impact on the car’s behavior.

We wanted to change the situation so that the SF-24 is not sensitive to external factors. This should make the car easier to drive. I really want to see these changes.

Question: Do you think the competition between the teams will become closer this season?
Charles Leclerc: It is always difficult to predict whether we will be closer to our main rivals or not. We concentrate on our own tasks, try not to pay attention to our opponents and do everything in our power.

We don’t know what progress the other teams have made over the winter, so let’s wait for the first fast laps, and then we will draw conclusions about the positions we are in.