Inevitably, there is an intense spotlight shining on the HP Scuderia Ferrari drivers for their home race and Charles Leclerc’s busy Thursday afternoon included taking part in the FIA press conference. Of course, he was immediately questioned about his goals for the Monza race. “I don’t think the results from the last two races change our expectations for this weekend as we are still struggling in terms of pace,” he admitted. “We understood some things after Zandvoort, for example why our quali performance was not ideal. But we had a good race on Sunday, as was also the case in Spa. Here in Monza, our performance should be a bit similar to Spa, so we should be more involved in the fight for the podium, even if we might not have enough for the win. However, I think we are in better shape here than at high downforce tracks but we will have to wait and see how much better. We also have some upgrades on the car that should see us go in the right direction. Hopefully, putting all these factors together we can be closer to the fastest than in the last few races. We won’t have a clear picture of how the updates are working until Baku or Singapore as Monza is not the best track to evaluate them.”
Unique feelings. Sitting next to Charles in the conference was Lewis Hamilton and the Monegasque was asked if he had any advice to give his future team-mate about being part of the Scuderia “I don’t think Lewis needs any advice!” laughed Charles. “Except to say driving for Ferrari is very special, especially here in Italy. It is something iconic. We have a lot of support all around the world but in Italy it is extra special, which motivates us to the maximum and next year we will experience that together.”