“Lets Not Fool Ourselves”: Charles Leclerc Accuses Rivals of Shrewd Tactics While Downplaying Ferrari Potential

“Being fastest in FP2 does not mean that we will be on pole position tomorrow and that we will win the race on Sunday. But at least the sensations on the car are much better.” This is what Carlos Sainz said in Monza—Ferrari’s home race—two weeks ago. But a day later, he secured pole position, giving the Tifosi their highlight of 2023. After Friday’s Practice at the Singapore GP, the Spaniard’s teammate Charles Leclerc followed suit. 

The Marina Bay Circuit is a track that’s traditionally suited to Ferrari. With its slow-speed corners and high downforce requirement, the Scuderia came into the weekend on an optimistic note. As the sun set on Friday, the Ferrari boys had caused a stir, with their pace looking highly impressive. But Leclerc held back from getting too ahead of himself.

Charles Leclerc set Ferrari’s expectations straight

In Monza, Ferrari looked to have considerably closed the gap to Red Bull. On a track right up its alley in Singapore—and one that doesn’t suit Red Bull—the Scuderia set its sights on keeping the momentum going. The Singapore GP weekend couldn’t have gotten off to a better start. Friday was a perfect day for Ferrari. A 1-2 finish in both FP1 and FP2 set the qualifying pace for the field. On a positive note, as quoted by Formula Passion, Leclerc said, “It was a good day. The car seems a little more competitive than we expected.” [Translated by Google]

On the other hand, Red Bull was slower than expected. Even so, the Monegasque didn’t give that thought too much heed. He continued, “Let’s not fool ourselves since I think our rivals have not yet shown their true potential. We will work to further refine the balance of the car tonight, and I am confident that we can improve further tomorrow.” It’s common for teams to hold back on Friday, assess the performance of the others, and then set their cars up. Instead of focusing on other teams’ sandbagging or shrewd tactics, Leclerc focused on Ferrari.

Discussing the fight for pole position, he revealed, “It will certainly be very competitive. Again, I expect the others to be much faster tomorrow. We’ll see how it goes. I hope we won’t have any nasty surprises and will be as competitive as we were today.” Just like Sainz did in Monza, Leclerc is downplaying Ferrari’s potential on a track it loves. Managing expectations is part of the process, and Leclerc did just that. One thing he didn’t do was settle for Sainz’s expectations.

Read More: “It’d Be a Lie”: Battle With Carlos Sainz Takes an Ugly Turn as Charles Leclerc Makes Scathing Admission

Charles Leclerc stomped on Carlos Sainz’s expectations

Ferrari isn’t a team that’s used to settling for less. The past few seasons have proved difficult in that sense. The closest it came to competing for a championship was in 2022, but that fight was over before it even began. The closest it came to winning a championship was in 2008. That was 15 seasons ago. Needless to say, the Scuderia wants to return to winning ways as soon as possible. Leclerc is right with it on that.

Ferrari is currently third in the championship, a mile away from the Mercedes-occupied second place. Overtaking Mercedes will be close to impossible this season, and what Ferrari is focusing on is retaining third. With this in mind, Carlos Sainz recently said that the best Ferrari can fight for in a race is 5th and 6th place. As accurate as that may be, Leclerc is striving for more, especially after losing to Sainz in Monza. “My goal is to fight for wins, not fighting [for] 5th, 6th place. For sure, Sainz did a great job in Monza. He’s in great form, and he has a great feeling with the car,” said Leclerc.

Where do you think will Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz rack up for the Sunday race?

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