Charles Leclerc, expressed his satisfaction of how his 2022 Formula 1 season has started, after a successful test for Ferrari at Barcelona last week.
Ferrari’s F1-75 proved to be bullet-proof, running the highest mileage of its peers around the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalyna, as Leclerc and his teammate Carlos Sainz racked up 439 laps of the course of the three-day test.
Many pundits are tipping Ferrari to be at the forefront of the upcoming season battle, with Leclerc sounding positive but cautious not to be drawn into performance-related conclusions.
“Well, I’m feeling reasonably good,” he told F1’s official website. “I mean, we’ve done all the tests that we’ve wanted to do, which was the most important thing we wanted to do during this test – doing as much mileage as we could – and we did, without major problems.
“So it’s a positive first test for this, and in terms of performance, nothing to say for now,” he added.
Ferrari not chasing lap times
Leclerc revealed that the team is not chasing lap times at the moment, but rather working hard on preparing for the official pre-season test in Bahrain on March 10.
“On the other hand, I think we are working harder than ever to just try and keep our heads down,” he continued. “It’s of course always nice to see yourselves P1, but it doesn’t mean anything… I think everyone is aware of this in the team.
“So, yes, we are not really focusing on the performance at all; we are just focusing on ourselves… Now we are already focused on Bahrain,” the Monegasque concluded.
Ferrari’s Racing Director Laurent Mekies added that the Barcelona test was a good warm up exercise for the team and drivers to get them ready to what he expected to be an “intense season” ahead.
“For [the drivers], it was a useful warm-up before what will be a long and intense season, getting used to procedures such as the pit stops and, for the various crews that make up the team, to all be back working together again and interacting well with our drivers,” Mekies explained.
“We still have a lot of work ahead of us and we can expect an intense fight, so everyone has many items on their job list now.
“It’s only the first step of a long year, when we intend to push very hard, working all together,” the Scuderia’s Racing Director vowed.
Season ‘22. This team is ready for you 💪#essereFerrari 🔴 pic.twitter.com/GXmKjAEomz
— Scuderia Ferrari (@ScuderiaFerrari) February 28, 2022