F1 World Championship battle against Mercedes: Charles Leclerc’s clear demand to Ferrari

The Ferrari team has performed well so far this season, Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc are in second and fourth place respectively in the World Championship standings after the first eleven races, whilst the team itself has taken on the role of the main challenger to leaders Mercedes among the teams; 72 points separate the Reds from the Mercedes works team.

Hamilton’s deficit is smaller; he trails championship leader Kimi Antonelli by 50 points. The gap to Leclerc, who, like his team-mate, has managed just one Grand Prix victory so far this season, is significantly wider at 81 championship points. Nevertheless, the Monegasque driver is confident that the Reds can keep pace with the leaders bearing the star emblem.

Charles Leclerc calls for an aggressive development strategy

To do so, however, Ferrari must continue to push hard, as the 28-year-old made clear in the paddock at the Hungaroring. “Upgrades are even more important this year than in the past, because they help us make significant progress. So it’s important that we keep pushing and continue to develop as aggressively as we have done so far,” urges the nine-time Grand Prix winner.

In fact, Ferrari has already put together and introduced several major update packages this year, for example for the fourth race at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya and, three races later, at the first of this year’s three US races in Miami. Mercedes team principal Toto Wolff expressed surprise at the volume of updates, and his suggestion that the competition must surely be running out of money soon caused some displeasure among Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur.

It is not entirely clear how many more race weekends the current season will comprise, due to the war in the Middle East. What is certain is that there are still at least nine World Championship rounds on the calendar. This leaves the Reds with enough time to close the gap on the Mercedes works team and secure their first title since 2008.

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