Leclerc: It's been a disappointing season

Ferrari started the new era of ground effect cars strongly in 2022, but dropped back over the course of that season, and while Leclerc would've hoped for a recovery in 2023, the situation was even worse, the SF-23 still suffering from the chronic tyre issues that marred its predecessor.

Mattia Binotto was also sacked at the start of 2023, with Frederic Vasseur replacing him, and while the Scuderia progressed a bit over the course of this season, Carlos Sainz even winning in Singapore, the situation remained: A fast car in qualifying that falls back in the race.

With the final race in Abu Dhabi upon us, Ferrari's best hope is to beat Mercedes to second in the 2023 F1 Constructors' Championship.

But Leclerc claims it will be a tough ask, he said on Thursday: "Well, it's going to be tight. We have good momentum coming to this race, as the last few races have been positive for us.

"However, Mercedes is historically pretty good here in Abu Dhabi so we'll have to put everything together in order to fight them and then beat them in the Constructors championship," he warned.

Asked how his SF-23 will fare compared to Mercedes' W14 this weekend, he responded: "It depends on such fine details that it's difficult to predict before every weekend where you are going to be.

"As I said, Mercedes is historically strong here so yeah, it's going to be tight, as always, and it will all depend on whoever is optimising the package better, which is up to us. And we'll focus on that throughout the free practices," he added.

Leclerc was on pole in Las Vegas, and finished second behind Max Verstappen, and his boss Vasseur is hoping to carry that momentum into Abu Dhabi, but Leclerc insists work on track is a factor as well.

"We are coming from... especially the last race, that has been very positive," he noted. "The one before was very positive pace-wise but obviously the result wasn't there for me, but everybody is super-motivated to beat Mercedes in the Constructors' Championship so yeah, momentum is good.

"But the big work remains to be done on track and we'll make sure that we do everything perfectly this weekend in order to beat them," the Ferrari driver insisted.

Looking back on his 2023 F1 campaign in Red, Leclerc said: "To be honest it's been a disappointing season.

"After last year, we expected to come to this season and try and fight for the championship which after the first race, we straightaway understood how difficult it will be compared to the Red Bull that had done a huge step forward, especially in race pace.

"We didn't do the same step. So from that moment onwards, it was a bit disappointing. On the other hand, if you just look at this season – forget about last season – I think we've progressed quite a lot throughout the season which is positive and makes me confident for the future.

"But there's a big gap to fill to get back the Red Bulls so we'll work hard during the winter break and hopefully we'll come back stronger next year with a car that is capable of winning," the Monegasque concluded.

Leclerc lies seventh in the 2023 F1 Drivers Championship on 188 points, while teammate Sainz is fourth with 200 points.