Leclerc approaching first race with ‘more unknown’ about new car than usual · RaceFans

Charles Leclerc feels less certain of Ferrari’s pace after testing than usual because of the unusual weather conditions in Bahrain this week.

“The feeling on the first day was good,” Leclerc told media after completing his final pre-season testing laps in the SF-25 yesterday. “Then on the second and third day the conditions became a lot more difficult, so it was quite a bit trickier.

“Now we are just trying to put the balance back in the right window, which is where our focus is at the moment. So there’s a bit of work in order to have the right feeling with the balance still, especially in the conditions we’ve had this morning and yesterday afternoon.”

Ferrari ended last season with a competitive car and were looking to make all-round improvements with their new chassis. But Leclerc said the variability of the conditions made it a challenge to judge where the car is stronger or weaker.

“It’s been overall a very, very different Bahrain test compared to every other year,” he said. “It’s been very tough.

“The conditions have been so inconsistent, which makes testing a lot more difficult to take anything out of because the wind has changed it a lot. Yesterday we even had rain and temperature was very low on the first day. So very different conditions day after day, so very difficult to have a lap time reference, which is quite important sometimes for the team.

“But at least [there’s] the feeling I got and I think we’ve learnt a huge amount. But it’s difficult to compare it with the past and to just see the strengths and weaknesses compared to the year before. So that makes this whole testing a lot more difficult.

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“I’m probably going into the first race with a bit more unknown than other years. But on the other hand, we went through our program and that is a positive. We didn’t have any particularly big issues, which is also a positive. And then we’ll see in Melbourne where we find ourselves.”

On Thursday Ferrari and rivals McLaren completed long runs, which appeared to indicate the world champions are in good shape. Leclerc admitted he had taken note of Lando Norris’s promising stint in the MCL39.

“As much as testing is all about focusing on ourselves, whenever there is obviously a race run, we always look a little bit at what the others are doing,” he said. “But we don’t know in which conditions they are running, so it’s a first glimpse of what we can expect.

“There are lots of unknowns still, so we need to take this with a pinch of salt. But, however, it was a really important run to understand from where we were lacking compared to them, but also compared to my own feeling. And as I’ve been saying quite a few times, we still have quite a bit of work to be done to be ready for Melbourne.”