Charles Leclerc has expressed his elation over Ferrari’s decision to retire their 2023 car come season’s end.
After a disheartening crash during the qualifiers at Zandvoort, whispers circulated among the paddock that Ferrari’s aerodynamic choices for the Dutch GP were significantly flawed.
Leclerc confessed, “There are no excuses and unfortunately I made a mistake, but this weekend has been really difficult.” He continued to Italian media, “We know the packages we have very well and we are sure that it is the best choice with what we had on hand. Now we need to try to make a package that is better suited to this type of track.”
Meanwhile, Red Bull appears to be on a different trajectory. Their chief engineer, Paul Monaghan, indicated on Friday that they would likely bring forth an “evolution” of their existing car for the upcoming year.
However, Ferrari’s approach stands in stark contrast.
“I can’t tell you a lot, but it (the 2024 car) will be very different,” divulged Ferrari’s head of chassis, Enrico Cardile, from Zandvoort.
He explained further, “In developing this year’s car, we realised that some architectural choices we did were not right. It was constraining the development too much.
“Next year’s car will not be an evolution of this year’s car. It will be a brand new car – different chassis with different design, different rear end to allow our aero to better develop to achieve our targets.”
Leclerc couldn’t hide his enthusiasm on hearing Cardile’s revelations. “This is great news,” he eagerly responded.
“Of course, I can’t wait for it to happen. Until then we have to finish this season, but yes, only this direction can be considered because, honestly, at the moment the car is very difficult to drive.
“Right now, when I go into a corner, I have zero idea whether there will be huge understeer or huge oversteer, which makes our situation very difficult,” concluded Leclerc.
