Leclerc happy with points: 'Shows mainly how bad it was so far'

Charles Leclerc is happy with his second place in the sprint race in Baku, as he believes it shows that Ferrari has made considerable improvements. During the post-race press conference, Leclerc acknowledged to GPblog and others that there was also a lot of room for improvement, however.

Leclerc started the sprint race from pole position and immediately managed to secure a stable lead. However, it soon became clear that Sergio Perez's Red Bull was simply too fast for Leclerc, after which the Monegasque had to do his best to hold off Max Verstappen. With his second position, Leclerc did secure Ferrari's best result so far, even if it is in the sprint race.

"I don't know how much of a fight it was but I tried my best," Leclerc reflected. "We are still lacking some pace in the race. This is definitely where our focus is at the moment. In qualifying, we seem to be okay. Having said that, I believe we did a step forward. I mean, if you look at Australia and here, we are better. We are not yet at the level of Red Bull. So, still a lot of work to do but happier with the car."

Leclerc mostly sees improvement on season start

Leclerc's second place earns him seven points, which now puts the Ferrari driver on 13 points in the standings. Before the sprint race, Leclerc was on just six points because of two dropouts in the first three races.

"It shows how bad the first three races were because if in a Sprint you double the points, that's not a good sign normally," Leclerc acknowledged. "But, it’s like this. We deserve much more points than what I have now in the Championship. We haven't been very lucky in the first three races, but hopefully, we can have a clean race tomorrow. In the end, that's where we will score big points."