Leclerc Says Ferrari Needs Matang Preparation Ahead Of Azerbaijan's GP

JAKARTA - Racer Charles Leclerc insists that he and Ferrari are "completely motivated" to make the 2023 season move in a better direction, and hopes they can prepare carefully ahead of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix race, late April.

Leclerc, quoted from the official Formula 1 website on Sunday, said the long time gap between the Australian GP and Azerbaijan was expected to make the team more solid to perfect their cars.

"I think in our situation as a team, we took this as an opportunity to work as much as possible during this break, to get an upgrade as quickly as possible and be as competitive as we wanted this season," Leclerc said, citing Antara, Sunday.

Ferrari did start the season with a tough start at the Bahrain GP, the Saudi Arabian GP, and the Australian GP. Their challenging journey puts the Italian factory team far in fourth place in the constructors' standings and nearly 100 points adrift of the leader team, Red Bull.

"It's still a very, very long season. We're fully motivated to get back to the top and we'll try to make the best use of these weeks (before Azerbaijan)," Leclerc said.

Leclerc's performance in the first three races of 2023 is in stark contrast to 2022, when he won two wins and finished second to defend the championship's early lead with 34 points.

Now he sits 10th in the drivers' standings with only six points he managed to collect. The Monaco rider also had several incidents, to technical problems in the car he was driving.

"We knew (good achievement) last year, and now it's all about focusing on what we can do better to improve and get back to the (best) level. We know where we have to work and now we just need to make it happen," Leclerc said.

When asked about which part to highlight by Ferrari, Leclerc assessed that currently what is needed is a solid car at all conditions.

"To be honest, this is just to try and have a more solid car in all conditions. We need to (work) better for that," he said.