04/11/2021
NEWS STORY
Though feeling Mexico City will be a good track for Ferrari, Charles Leclerc admits that overhauling McLaren in the championship won't be easy.
Between them, Ferrari and McLaren have won 27 drivers' titles and 24 Constructors' Championship, but currently, as Mercedes and Red Bull fight it out for the title(s), the best they can hope for is 'best of the rest'.
Both teams have had their bad times in recent years, but 2021 has seen a revival at both Woking and Maranello.
Currently separated by just 3.5 points, while confident that Mexico will suit the Ferrari, Charles Leclerc admits that overhauling McLaren in the fight for third will not be easy.
"On paper it should be a better track for us compared to Austin," said the youngster today as the Mexico City weekend got underway, "but it's also true to say that sometimes we've had good and bad surprises compared to what we expect on paper.
"So let's not get carried away too much," he continued, "and again, focus on our job.
"But it should be quite a strong race for us if we compare ourselves to the other midfield teams," he added.
Asked about the fight with McLaren, he said: "We are still chasing them; we are not in front of them, so it's going to be very, very tight because they are a very strong team, very consistent from the beginning of the year, so it's not going to be easy.
"But as I said we are working well as a team since the beginning of the season. Every time we brought things it went in the right direction, so it's looking good. But again, we need to try and do everything perfect until the end of the season... and I'm confident we've got chances to finish ahead of them in the championship.
"We've had a few good races now, especially Austin was a pretty strong race for us. So it's good to see that. It's not a track we expected to be strong or at least not stronger than McLaren, our main competitors this year, and we were, so it shows we are working in the right direction, and if we keep working at it then it's looking good for the future.
"But we need to keep our head down and keep working.
"Our high downforce package has always worked pretty well this season, in Monaco, in Budapest also, so we'll probably run with it here. That's why I think we should be competitive."
Check out our Thursday gallery from Mexico City, here.