Leclerc: We’ve been strong, but had quite a bit of problems

Leclerc arrives in France on the back of an important win at the 2022 Austrian Grand Prix, one he could've lost after suffering a throttle pedal problem towards the end of that race.

He survived the problem to take his fifth career win in Formula 1, unlike his teammate Carlos Sainz, who faced power unit problems, causing him to retire in a spectacular blaze losing on a potential second place finish.

Asked how he felt coming to Le Castellet this weekend, Leclerc was quoted by F1's official website saying: "It feels good of course.

"I’ve got a much better feeling than the one I had coming into Austria. We’ve had a very positive weekend there and we just need to keep the focus, that level of performance.

"We’ve been very strong in Austria, we’ve been very strong for very long now but unfortunately we had quite a bit of problems," the Monegasque lamented.

"But looking ahead I’m confident we can be quick this weekend, it’s just about putting everything together with no mistakes," he added.

Paul Ricard was a track where Ferrari struggled in recent years especially on the tyre degradation, and quizzed of that may be a worry this year as well Leclerc said: "We struggled quite a bit last year and the year before too, but yes, this year, different cars, different conditions.

"We’ll take particular care of the tyres, we’ll use these free practices to make sure we don’t have the same issue as the last two years but I’m sure that we will be competitive," the 24-year-old revealed.

Carlos Sainz, who lost one of his power units last time out in Austria revealed there has been no decision taken whether a new power unit will be bolted to his F1-75 in France as Ferrari evaluated the viability of taking a grid penalty this weekend.

"It’s still under evaluation, we are still looking at all the available options," said Sainz of the decision to have a new power unit.

"We also need to see a bit how the overtaking is here, how everything comes into play you know with the heat, the tyres and we will take a decision but obviously there is a chance it will happen," he explained.