Charles Leclerc believes that Ferrari’s bouncing issues will be particularly evident at this weekend’s Belgian Grand Prix, as the team prepares to test its latest batch of fixes.
Ferrari’s upgrade package, introduced at the Barcelona Grand Prix, featured a new floor that caused bouncing in high-speed corners. This issue has hindered the team’s performance on faster circuits, resulting in a loss of ground to competitors like Red Bull, McLaren, and Mercedes. While the Scuderia managed to mitigate the problem at the slower Hungaroring track, Leclerc expects the high-speed Spa-Francorchamps circuit to pose a more significant challenge.
“On a track like Spa, I think this is going to be a real test for us, because it’s probably the track where I would expect our issues to be the most visible,” Leclerc commented. “There we’ll see if we have the confirmation that there’s still a lot of work to do before we get our issues fixed, or whether the upgrades of this weekend helped us make a step forward for those tracks. On a high-speed track, I expect us to struggle a bit more.”
In Belgium, Ferrari will not revert to its older Imola specifications, as it did in Silverstone, even though the older package did not suffer from bouncing. Instead, the team will continue with the latest developments introduced in Hungary, where Leclerc and his teammate Carlos Sainz finished fourth and sixth, respectively. The team hopes that further tweaks in Belgium will improve the car’s resistance to bouncing, a phenomenon expected to be more pronounced at Spa.
“The understanding is there,” said Leclerc. “The thing with the kind of [bouncing] issue we are facing is that it’s either on or off. It’s very difficult to see the improvement. Maybe you have it for less time, but it’s not like you improve the intensity of it. So whenever you have it, you have it. We are doing steps in the right direction. Whether it will be enough not to have it, I’m not sure yet. I will expect that in Spa it can be an issue again.”
With the Belgian Grand Prix on the horizon, Ferrari faces a crucial test to determine whether their latest upgrades can overcome the persistent bouncing issues. As Leclerc and his team brace for the challenges of the high-speed Spa circuit, all eyes will be on how the Scuderia’s latest tweaks perform under pressure.
