Leclerc: Super important to be on it from the first lap

Formula 1 will run the penultimate Sprint Race weekend in Austin for the 2023 United States Grand Prix, and Charles Leclerc, who was asked about Ferrari's prospects, warned that even having a car that suits the track doesn't guarantee a good performance, given the limited practice time to get the car setup right.

Speaking to the media on Thursday, Leclerc said: "I think on Sprint weekends like this is very difficult to say whether, I mean even if you your car fits the track, you can still get it very wrong because you've only got very few laps in FP1 to get the car sorted for the rest of the weekend.

"If you do any mistakes in FP1 in terms of setup direction, this can have a big influence and a much bigger influence than anything else over the whole weekend," he pointed out. "So it's going to be super important to be on it from the first lap tomorrow and but if we have a good FP1, then we can expect a good a good weekend."

The Monegasque was asked about he expected Ferrari's SF-23 to perform around the Circuit of the Americas, he responded: "I think we've always had a strong base, we've always started the weekend strong.

"So on that we just need to try and keep working and keep improving that strong base that we already had, which paid off in the past," he added. "Obviously in Qatar it was one of the most difficult tracks for us on paper. But here it should be a little bit better.

"So hopefully we can be in front of Mercedes and closer to Red Bull. McLaren also will be there in the fight. They were very strong in the last few races, so hopefully we can beat them here," Leclerc concluded.

Ferrari's other driver, Carlos Sainz missed the Qatar Grand Prix following a fuel system issue on his SF-23, which meant he couldn't even start the race which was one of the physically toughest on F1 drivers in 2023.

"I have mixed feelings," the Spaniard told reporters in Austin on Thursday about missing the race in Lusail two weeks ago.

"In a way I know that if it was a physical race I know with my fitness level I can always maybe make a bit of a difference," he claimed. "At the same time, if there's one race where we don't care missing so much is that race where the drivers were suffering, but you know how much I love racing. I would have much rather suffer in the car on the race"

Sainz was the only non-Red Bull driver to win a race in 2023, the Singapore Grand Prix, and was asked about his expectations for this weekend.

"Hopefully it would be better, not the Singapore or Monza level, but somewhere in between Japan and the races where we we've been fighting clearly in the top five," the Spaniard predicted.

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Reporting by Agnes Carlier, Writing by Jad Mallak

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