Credits: IMAGO NurPhoto

The first two races of the 2024 season continued to showcase to the F1 community that Red Bull remains the strongest team. In both Bahrain and Saudi Arabia, the Austrian outfit finished 1-2. Moreover, on both occasions, Max Verstappen defeated Red Bull teammate Sergio Perez to win the race. Hence, looking at how things have panned out so far, the possibility of a team challenging Red Bull at the moment seems bleak. However, despite knowing this fact, Charles Leclerc has recently painted a realistic picture of challenging Verstappen and Red Bull.

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While taking to Motorsport.com, Leclerc said, “I’m sure our time will come. I don’t know what Red Bull has in store in terms of upgrades, but this will define when we will be able to match them.”

The Monegasque is optimistic that the SF24 will at some point surpass the RB20 in speed because, in his view, Ferrari has improved the most since last year’s campaign. Similar to Frederic Vasseur, the 26-year-old feels that Red Bull’s lead over Ferrari currently stands at three to four-tenths of a second every lap.

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Charles Leclerc believes this is a smaller gap compared to the previous season. However, the Monegasque does believe that it’s still a significant margin in Formula 1.

Moreover, Leclerc has revealed that the SF-24 wouldn’t undergo any significant changes in Melbourne. While wrapping up, Leclerc mentioned that although there is still a significant gap between the two teams, if his team keeps improving, he is confident that Ferrari will eventually ‘put more pressure on Red Bull.’

What did Frederic Vasseur say about Ferrari’s pace?

The way Ferrari handles the Pirelli tires has improved significantly this season. Since the previous year, the team has improved the setup window for both their drivers, which has helped them clinch two podium finishes in a row.

Given these advancements, Frederic Vasseur thinks his team will eventually overtake Red Bull in the battle for the top spot. According to GP Fans, the Frenchman said that the feeling about Ferrari’s current position is ‘quite positive.’

While elaborating on it, Vasseur said that Red Bull is maybe two or three-tenths ahead of them in the single-lap race. However, later he also pointed out that the margin widens during the race, and that he is unsure about whether Red Bull is exerting maximum effort.

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After stating the same, Vasseur finally said, “The feeling is more positive that, if you come back in this region, you know if you do a step, you can put some pressure on them. When we were at one second [behind], it was useless, but now with a good start we can be there, we can fight.”

At the Australian Grand Prix, Ferrari will hope to battle Red Bull and will most likely have the best opportunity to take on them. This is because the Albert Park track has a lot of medium-speed turns and a few lengthy straights that could potentially favor Ferrari.

However, the primary concern for the Prancing Horse at the moment is the availability of Carlos Sainz, who missed the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix last weekend due to appendicitis surgery. If the Spaniard is not fit in time, then Ferrari could be forced to once again feature Ollie Bearman for the Australian GP.