Leclerc reveals Ferrari's ground effect era issues: This went wrong!

15:37, 21 Dec

Updated: 15:53, 21 Dec

0 Comments

byKada Sarkozi

Charles Leclerc reflected on Ferrari’s failure to win a championship in the ground effect era.

"What worked back at the factory – I think everybody has been surprised once or more times that when you bring it on track, it doesn't correlate exactly to what you were expecting from that part."

- Charles Leclerc

Despite starting strong in 2022, the team faced numerous difficulties in the following years, culminating in a season without a win.

Reviewing this era of cars, Leclerc explained where things did not go so smoothly for his team, after in 2022, he was Max Verstappen's rival for the title early on.

He said: "I think for us there's not only one reason. There are many reasons which, at different times, played a role.

"In the beginning of ’22, we actually started off quite strongly, but we were struggling with porpoising, where Red Bull had a very stable platform. And they were actually quite a lot overweight, so as soon as they took off that weight, they were suddenly at the level where they've been since then."

Leclerc in the paddock - Photo: Race Pictures

He continued: "Then for last year, we focused very early on next year’s car, which I hope is a bet that will be a winning one. But for sure, it has some influence from the last two thirds of the season where we've been struggling more than others because we didn't bring that many upgrades.

"But in general, it's just been a generation of car that was very, very difficult to understand. And what worked back at the factory – I think everybody has been surprised once or more times that when you bring it on track, it doesn't correlate exactly to what you were expecting from that part.

"And that was the challenge of it. And yeah, and other teams did better, especially McLaren and Red Bull."

Check out the latest episode of GPblog's F1 Paddock Update

Want to stay up-to-date with what happens in the F1 paddock? Then GPblog's F1 Paddock Update video is the perfect way to do it. Subscribe to GPblog's YouTube channel and turn on notifications to never miss the latest episodes.