Leclerc expects further Ferrari gains from upgrade in Jeddah

Charles Leclerc says the upgrade that Ferrari brought to Bahrain should provide a more noticeable step forward at this weekend's Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, as it looks to close the gap to McLaren.

Ferrari brought a new floor to the last race in Bahrain in order to get value out of it at two of the three races in the current tripleheader. While Leclerc admitted it was unlikely to have a major impact on last weekend’s track layout, he believes the high-speed street circuit of Jeddah should allow the team to understand if it has made the planned progress with the latest development.

“For the layout of the track, I think we should be doing a bit of a step forward -- a bit more of a step forward than we did in Bahrain, which is positive,” Leclerc said. “We obviously still have to confirm that, but I think the numbers that we were expecting from this upgrade in Bahrain were the ones that we saw, and considering that is the case, I think we'll benefit a little bit more from a track like this.

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“Overall grip has been a big improvement. And in specific corners -- corner phases, especially, which we should gain from a bit more on a track like this.”

Leclerc believes Ferrari is currently on a par with Mercedes and considers Red Bull tougher to analyze, but he sees the gap to McLaren as standing between 0.2-0.3s. Although Ferrari is unlikely to close that with one upgrade, he believes race victories can soon be on the cards after feeling a better result got away in Bahrain.

“I honestly think that the podium was possible in Bahrain without the safety car, but that's how racing goes sometimes," he said. "I think we are doing steps in the right direction, whether the podium is going to be this weekend or later on, I don't know, but I think we've got our chances.

“We've been taking slightly different directions in the last few races, which I particularly like, and if we keep finding gains by going in that direction, I hope we can score our first podium, but my hope is a bit more than that. I mean, a podium is not something that I particularly enjoy targeting -- a win would be amazing.

“I am always fully motivated to extract the maximum out of my car, no matter where that brings me. Of course you are always disappointed when you do everything perfect and the best result achievable is P4, but then you get back into the car the next race and -- at least for me -- I still have the full motivation to try and do something special and to maybe win a race with a car that is less good than the people around me.

“So that's where I find my motivation -- it is to try to outperform whenever I can. So motivation won't be a problem.”