Charles Leclerc believes Red Bull and McLaren are "doing something weird" with engines amid Imola pace

Scuderia Ferrari Monegasque driver Charles Leclerc is optimistic about the Maranello team’s future performances after the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix, but he acknowledged the need to address a “weird” technique used by rivals McLaren and Red Bull in order to enhance their straight-line speed

The Italian side introduced a set of upgrades to their car this weekend at the Imola circuit, which showed promising results in testing prior to the race. While Ferrari demonstrated improved pace compared to previous races in China and Miami, Charles Leclerc still finished behind Max Verstappen and Lando Norris.

During a lengthy second stint on hard tires, the Monegasque driver closed in on Lando Norris, but a mistake at the Variante Alta chicane caused him to lose contact with the McLaren driver. Although he couldn’t contend for the victory, Charles Leclerc was partially satisfied with securing a podium finish in front of the passionate tifosi in the first race that takes place this year in Italy:

“At least it’s a podium. Of course. I’m only very happy when I win and today, we didn’t quite make it. We were very fast at the beginning of the stint with the hards. I started to push to try and put some pressure on Lando, but later on they were incredibly quick.” – Charles Leclerc pointed out.

Despite the fact that Charles Leclerc and his Maranello team mate Carlos Sainz finished the qualifying session for the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix in fourth and fifth position, respectively gaining a place thanks to Oscar Piastri’s penalty, Charles Leclerc believes there are also some positive notes to be taken from this weekend.

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“All-in-all, I think the race pace today was quite strong,” he added, explaining that Ferrari have identified a possible area of improvement on Saturday – “We lacked a bit yesterday in qualifying. After looking, we missed on the front straight, especially – which we’ll look into – but on the rest of the lap, we were quick. So it’s looking good for the rest of the season.” – the Monegasque driver continued his assessment.

Charles Leclerc confirmed that the Italian side’s evaluation of the performance in the qualifying session reveals that Red Bull and Mclaren have identified a way solution in order to gain some pace in terms of top speed on the straights.

“I think our race pace is very, very strong,” he added in his post-race interview for Sky Sport. “I’m more optimistic than yesterday looking back at the qualifying because this is where I think we are lacking on a weekend like this. What makes me optimistic is that if I look back at the data, I thought we were losing in turn two, three, four, which would have been tyre related again. But it wasn’t the case. We lost everything in the straights, and they are doing something weird with the energy, engine-wise, McLaren and Red Bull.”

At the same time, Charles Leclerc believes the Maranello team will be able to come up with a solution against their rivals’ advantage. “We’ve got to look into it but [it’s] nothing that is not possible to change. So, we’ll look into that and once we fix that, I think we’ve got a real shot of going back on the top step for the podium.” – the Ferrari man concluded at the end of the Imola race.