Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc has been working hard to extract the maximum performance from the new SF-23 car by altering his driving style, as the team aims to challenge for championships in 2023.
Leclerc, who topped the morning session of the final day of pre-season testing, explained that Ferrari had pursued a different performance direction this year, with the team aiming to achieve more straight line speed to keep up with Red Bull.
Following a reliable day for Ferrari, Leclerc revealed that he had been adapting to the new car by altering his driving style during the intensive three-day testing.
“We focused a lot on set-up work this week and made some good steps forward. I also tried out some different driving styles to test what suits me best in this new car,” he said.
Leclerc’s teammate, Carlos Sainz, also got to try out the new car during pre-season testing, and the team was pleased with the results.
“We have three very intensive days of testing behind us. The first day was all about running big scans and trying to understand how well our data matches what we predicted at the factory. What we learned is that there is quite a good correlation,” Leclerc added.
Ferrari fans will be eagerly anticipating the start of the season, as the team hopes to close the gap to their closest competitors and challenge for top honors in 2023.
“We’ll be back next week for the opening race of the season and it will be interesting to see where all teams stand in relation to their closest competitors,” Leclerc said.
With Leclerc’s dedication to finding the best driving style for the SF-23 and the team’s focus on achieving more straight line speed, it will be interesting to see how Ferrari performs in the upcoming races.