Both Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc have played down the expectations surrounding the upgrade the Ferrari team is bringing for this race weekend in Austin.
The Scuderia has arrived at the Circuit of the Americas with what looks like a substantial upgrade package that includes a new floor along with modified sidepods and bodywork with an aim to reduce drag. While fans of the Scuderia may be reading this with bated breath, both drivers are keen to keep any expectations under control.
Speaking in the press conference ahead of the Austin race, Leclerc believes the changes to his car are being overhyped.
“Well, actually they are not that major upgrades that many… I mean, I’ve heard quite a lot about them, but they are not as big as maybe what’s going around. It’s a small step in the right direction, obviously, as always, that’s the target. Then we still need to put it on the car and do the first few laps and see whether that’s the step we expected is there.
“However, there are other teams I think I’ve heard that are bringing big upgrades, and so we’ll have to see how it is compared to them. But I don’t expect anything hugely significant, but I hope it can help us just do that little step forward and help us win the races.”
Hamilton went as far as to call it a “very, very small upgrade”, with him adding that it would barely be worth a tenth.
“I think they will be very, very hard to, [Red Bull are] just as quick through all the corners as us in the last race, and that’s been our strength, so they’ve matched us now through the corners, and they’re three, four tenths quicker down the straights, so we have a very, very small upgrade this weekend.
“It’s less than a tenth, it’s like half a tenth, so I don’t think that propels us forwards to be able to necessarily challenge that deficit, but we’ll, you know, maybe the track suits our car, and maybe we’ll, maybe they’ll have a one-off weekend, maybe Mercedes will have an off weekend again, and we’ll be right there to take it.”
Charles Leclerc, Ferrari
Photo by: Clive Mason / Getty Images
Leclerc still believes small changes can make a big difference, given how close the top four teams have been in recent races.
“I expect a very tight top four teams, that’s for sure. I mean, I think that’s what we’ve seen recently, is that as soon as someone brings an upgrade, even if it’s not a very significant one, that’s enough to go from fourth of this group to first of this group, and I think Red Bull have shown that very well.
“And I hope we’ll show that this weekend with a few upgrades we brought. But it’s nothing significant on paper that shouldn’t change the hierarchy that we’ve seen in the past races. But yeah, I strongly believe that it will be very tight, just like it’s been in the last few races.”
Ferrari has boasted a strong chassis this season, but its power unit has left much to be desired. FP1 results are rarely indicative of true pace, but with Leclerc topping the first practice session by 0.084 seconds from Max Verstappen, Ferrari fans will likely keep hyping these upgrades until we see something more conclusive. Hamilton, in comparison, finished sixth running the old configuration.
The team is second in the constructors’ championship on 444 points, 134 behind Mercedes, and has not won since Leclerc’s victory at Silverstone in July.
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