Ferrari's Charles Leclerc says he "can't imagine" the team's performance being worse in the upcoming Formula 1 Brazilian Grand Prix than it was in previous race in Mexico. The Scuderia posted their worst two-car finish of the season in Mexico City, with Carlos Sainz taking fifth and Leclerc finishing sixth - nearly one minute behind race-winner Max Verstappen. Due to the high altitude, Ferrari were forced to run their engines in a lower power mode to prevent them failing, with the F1-75 also suffering from balance issues throughout the weekend. Despite Brazil's Interlagos circuit also being at altitude, Monegasque Leclerc is confident that the team has solved the issues and will provide an improving showing compared to Mexico.
Leclerc on Ferrari
"I can't imagine being worse than that, but I am pretty sure it will be better here," Leclerc explained when asked by media about his hopes for the weekend. "We were struggling with power unit performance in Mexico because of the altitude and probably didn't get the perfect balance either which didn't help. "The combination of the two made us struggle a lot, but I'm confident we will be better here. "There's been quite a lot of analysis and I believe that we're [nearing] the sweet spot of the car - and that caused all the problems - I won't go too much into details, but it was very tricky to drive. "Obviously you lose a bit of confidence and then you lose a little bit here and it adds up to an accumulation and means we just struggle more."
Fight with Perez
Leclerc is currently locked into a fight with Sergio Perez of Red Bull for second place in the Drivers' Championship behind runaway leader Max Verstappen. Perez currently holds a five-point advantage with 60 points left up for grabs across the final two race weekends, with Leclerc commenting that it is not something he is concerned by. "It is not my main priority," he said when asked about the prospect of finishing P2. "I think it will come as a result if we do everything perfect in the last two races, but my main priority is to try and improve as a team in the last few races for us to challenge Max and Red Bull next year for the World Championship. "That's what matters to me: to try and win a championship as quickly as possible. "Second, or third, this season... second is better than third, but I don't really mind to be honest."
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