For Charles Leclerc, Ferrari will be next to Red Bull in Shanghai

For Charles Leclerc, Ferrari will be next to Red Bull in Shanghai

Charles Leclerc said on Thursday that Ferrari will be close to Red Bull at the Chinese Grand Prix this weekend, but he still expects them to fight for the small podium places.

Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and Sergio Pérez completed a one-two in Japan two days ago, with the Dutch three-time world champion more than 10 seconds ahead of his Mexican counterpart.

Carlos Sainz’s Ferrari followed, with teammate Charles Leclerc fourth, nearly half a minute behind the winner.

“I think in the race we will be (closer), yes”say Leclerc to journalists in Shanghai.

“But we’ll see it’s been a long time since we ran here.”he remembered.

Formula 1 returns to China for the first time in five years with a busy schedule, including a sprint race on Saturday.

The Shanghai International Circuit has not been used by the current generation of F1 and appears to have received a coat of paint to improve grip, which has raised a few eyebrows in the paddock.

“I think the track is drawn or there is something strange about it, so we will have to see how our car does with that and what are the main shortcomings in the race.“, said Monegasque Leclerc.

The qualifying process was very different at the last Chinese Grand Prix in April 2019, when the race was easily won by Lewis Hamilton in a one-two finish for Mercedes.

This time there will be only 60 minutes of free practice on Friday morning, before qualifying for the long race.

Leclerc has been in the top four in all four races this season, but wants to improve his qualifying, which is especially important during race weekends.

“I still think Red Bull will have an advantage this weekend“, say Leclerc, who is third in the standings, 18 points behind Verstappen but only five behind Pérez.

“We just have to focus on ourselves, because it can be very easy, as we saw especially in qualifying at Suzuka, not to do a good job on Saturday and then not come from fourth to fifth place, but from fourth to fourth. eighth”. A fast race weekend, with two qualifying sessions to get the most out of the car, will be very important.”he added.