Charles Leclerc has opened up about Ferrari’s subtle advancements in the 2024 Formula 1 season, which have been overshadowed by significant bouncing issues.
In an exclusive interview, Charles Leclerc shared that Ferrari’s 2024 developments have been genuine and significant, despite being veiled by a substantial bouncing problem. The aerodynamic changes introduced with the new floor at the Spanish Grand Prix amplified this bouncing, particularly in high-speed corners, causing unpredictability.
To mitigate these issues, Ferrari reverted to the Imola-spec floor for the British Grand Prix and later introduced a revised underbody for races in Hungary and Belgium. Although the numerical benefits of the aerodynamic upgrades aligned with expectations, the bouncing masked these improvements in actual performance.
According to Leclerc, the turning point came in Spain, where the new upgrades showed promising numbers but also brought considerable bouncing. He admitted, ‘From Spain onwards, I think this was more the turning point where we brought something on the car, which the numbers, as I’ve always said, were there. However, it induced quite a lot of bouncing that we’ve been struggling with.’
Leclerc explained that his attempts to counteract the bouncing involved aggressive set-ups across the last four races, aiming to extract performance and better understand the car’s behavior. He noted, ‘I’ve always been [aiming] to go for the last hundredths, and I think this is the approach that pays off whenever things are as they should be.’ However, he acknowledged the unpredictability introduced by the bouncing forced him to maintain a margin, deviating from his usual aggressive approach.
He emphasized that the bouncing was the primary reason for recent inconsistencies and performance struggles, not necessarily the aggressive set-ups. Leclerc reflected on Ferrari’s previous season where a phase of experimentation at Zandvoort led to a breakthrough with a new floor, resulting in a strong second half of the year.
Drawing parallels to the current challenges, Leclerc expressed confidence in the learning process despite losing several races. ‘I’m sure that this is the same process we have gone through in the last three, four races. However, the negative point about it is that we’ve lost three, four races instead of two last year. But I believe that that gave us a much deeper understanding of what was happening, and I’m confident to say that we’ve learned a lot.’
Despite the setbacks caused by bouncing, Leclerc remains optimistic about Ferrari’s progress and the lessons learned, hoping these insights will strengthen their performance in upcoming races.
