Red Bull has not experienced the same level of dominance in 2024 as it did in 2022 and 2023. Ferrari and McLaren have caught up and are now challenging them on a more regular basis.
In the recent races, Leclerc won the Monaco Grand Prix, while his teammate Carlos Sainz won the Australian Grand Prix. McLaren’s Lando Norris also defeated Max Verstappen in Miami.
When asked about the current competitive situation at the front of the F1 grid, Leclerc commented, “It’s positive for Formula 1. However, we need to focus on ourselves. I would prefer to have a boring F1 with Ferrari dominating than an exciting F1 with us fighting. We still have work to do, especially in races like Canada, where we need to maximize our points. So far, we’ve done an excellent job in that regard. Even with the engine problem last Sunday, I don’t think we could have done much more. But we need to analyze these things and stay on top.”
Unfortunately, Ferrari had a difficult weekend in Montreal. Leclerc retired due to power unit issues, while Sainz crashed at the end of the race, resulting in no points for the team.
When asked about the power unit problem that ended his Canadian Grand Prix, Leclerc expressed his frustration, “I don’t know what happened. We were losing a significant amount of time, sometimes up to 1.5 seconds per lap. It was difficult to drive and very frustrating because I was being overtaken by everyone on the straights. I had to constantly change settings and try to reset everything to make it work. In the wet conditions, we were doing very well and believed we could still finish in the points. However, as soon as the track dried up, I was powerless on the straights.”
Leclerc also explained that, while changing settings during driving was challenging in wet conditions, it became even more complicated when the track started to dry. He said: “I found it a bit easier when it was completely wet. The tricky part was when it was half dry and half wet. You had to focus on the steering wheel and there was only one racing line. If you were off by just a few centimeters, it would cost you dearly. It was very challenging.”
After reducing the gap to Verstappen to 31 points with his previous win, not scoring points in Montreal put Leclerc now 56 points behind the Dutchman in the 2024 F1 Drivers’ Championship.
