It’s been 14 long years since the most successful team in Formula 1 tasted a championship at the end of the season. With the driver’s championship dating back a year more, Scuderia Ferrari didn’t have the greatest of times in recent years. As the Maranello-based team gears up once again in 2023 to fight for the championships, stakes are at an all-time high. However, team driver Charles Leclerc is reluctant to put up any pre-season predictions and call Ferrari the favorites, as he’s well aware of the mighty Red Bull and Mercedes threat.

As per Motorsport Italia, Leclerc told on this, “It’s very difficult to make predictions. I’m sure we did a good job with the car, but I don’t really know where Red Bull is. I don’t know where Mercedes is, but I expect them to be very strong too. So, let’s see. One thing for sure is that, especially after a year like last year, in which we are in the first race, it doesn’t mean it’s over.”

“And this goes both ways: if we win the first race, it doesn’t mean it will be the same until the end of the season, and vice versa, if we have a bad first race we must not give up but keep pushing because anything is possible. So, I’m sure we will have a competitive car, but let’s wait and see how the other teams performed,” further asserted the 25-year-old driver.

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With the prospect of unveiling 2023 challengers nearly coming to an end, it’s finally time for serious business in F1. As the upcoming season looms large, teams like Red Bull, Mercedes, and Ferrari will look to work hard to bring their last-minute upgrades before they hit the Bahrain track for pre-season testing.

Charles Leclerc was optimistic about Lewis Hamilton and Mercedes joining the fight

The Ferrari star driver is of the opinion that Mercedes and Lewis Hamilton with their “sexier” W14 are well on their way to making the 2023 F1 championship a three-way battle, something which hasn’t been the case for a long time in F1. Charles Leclerc believes, Mercedes can come up to join Ferrari in charge to dethrone the defending champions, Red Bull.

As per Motorsport, the Monegasque shared on this during the FIA gala in December, 2022, “I do believe that Mercedes will be in the fight [in 2023]. Another team? I haven’t seen signs yet, maybe to believe that another team will join the top three.”

“But Mercedes will definitely be there next year with a very strong car. We’ve seen how much they’ve improved from the first race to the last race.” Factually, the Silver Arrows have improved themselves by quite a margin after working on their porpoising. Moreover, the Brackley-based team is the only team that suffered relatively lesser due to reliability issues in 2022.

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Nevertheless, if there’s one team that is pushing the hardest to make the most this time, it has to be Ferrari. After the bitter 2022 experience, the Maranello-based team will look to make amends for the times before the season begins in Bahrain.