Leclerc names Ferrari's weak point: 'Red Bull probably better than us'

Carlos Sainz has hinted at a problem with the Ferrari at the start of the races. The clutch would cause the car to get away slightly worse than Red Bull Racing and Mercedes. Charles Leclerc, however, mentions another cause, which is the warming up of the tyres.

"You mean tyre warm-up, that Red Bull is probably better than us. Yeah, well, looking at Austria, I'm not too unhappy that we didn't follow in the first laps because it paid off at the end of the race and that's what counts", Leclerc says during the press conference on Thursday.

The Monegasque has six pole positions to his name already this season, but he is often overtaken by Max Verstappen at the start. Team-mate Sainz also struggles at times compared to the Red Bull and Ferrari drivers. Valtteri Bottas is testing a new clutch this weekend that should improve the race start.

Ferrari continues to improve tyre management

Nevertheless, the Ferrari proved to be better at managing its tyres during the Austrian Grand Prix. Verstappen suffered badly from tyre degradation, allowing Leclerc to overtake him no fewer than three times on the track. However, the Ferrari drivers did have a slower start.

"It is true that they have the tendency to be very strong in the first few laps of the stints with the tyres. We know that maybe for us it's a bit more of a weakness. But at the end, you also need to look at the full picture, and the tyre management has been good in the last races for us, so we need to keep working. It doesn't mean they will be just the same this weekend", Leclerc ends.