Leclerc pinpoints key 'emotional' Ferrari turnaround

Charles Leclerc has pinpointed Ferrari's key improvement in not letting emotions get the better of them, following the 2024 F1 season. 

The Maranello-based team secured five victories en-route to second in the F1 constructors' standings and fought McLaren down to the wire in Abu Dhabi for the title. 

Whilst Ferrari fell just short, it was a very positive year for the outfit, who endured a mid-season blip after introducing an upgrade which worsened the SF-24's performance. 

This cost the Italians valuable points across a few rounds where it tried to solve the problem, before bouncing back strongly once the upgrade's issue was understood and rectified. 

Arguably, the "hole" Ferrari fell in cost the team the title, although Leclerc does wish anything had been done differently.

"Looking back at it, I am satisfied with the season," Leclerc told the New York Times. "I think it's not been very often where I look back and I feel like there's been very little missed opportunities. 

"There was a hole of performance after Monaco for two, three races where we had an upgrade that didn't work properly, and we had to put the car in places that we didn't want to put it, but we had to learn something out of it. 

"We're in the position we are in now, because we have gone through this stuff for two, three races. So I wouldn't change that, and I think we did the right choice as a team, so putting everything together, I think it's been a positive season. 

"I think at the end of the day, we have just missed performance, especially at the beginning of the season, in order to be fighting for better things. But I think in terms of the team maximising what we had, we did a really good job."

Ferrari change

Based on Ferrari's strong end to the campaign, the famous red outfit is expected to be one of the favourites next year. 

Ferrari was given a similar label ahead of this year, following a positive end to 2023; however, it initially could not compete with Red Bull. 

When asked if Ferrari has something different planned over the winter to meet the high expectations, Leclerc answered: "It's a very difficult question to answer, because at the end of the day, Formula 1 is a relative sport, and we can only know what we are doing ourselves.

"I have very good confidence that we are doing everything right at the moment, and as a team, we are a lot more solid. 

"I'm not speaking really much about the technical part of it, that again, everything is relative, and we don't know if Red Bull or McLaren have been focusing on next year's car and found something very special for next year's car. 

"So it is very difficult to say anything on that matter. We are just focusing on ourselves and trying to the best possible job."

Ferrari's bounce back after a miserable few rounds mid-season illustrated a key change which has taken place under the leadership of team principal Frederic Vasseur. 

In the past, Ferrari has crumbled when things begin to go wrong, whilst on this occasion the entire team dug deep to escape the hole. 

Leclerc puts this down to the outfit's mechanics and engineers not becoming as "emotionally affected", something he believes happened in the past due to the weight of the Ferrari brand.

"I think, though, that the mentality within the team and the way we work is so much better and that we are a much more solid team," revealed Leclerc. 

"And I've always said that Ferrari, I think, is incredible, because there's so much passion within the team, and that's great because everybody is willing to work the extra hour and is really motivated to change things for better. 

"However, when things are going bad, people working in Ferrari are more affected because they have an emotional attachment to the brand, which you maybe have less in other teams. However, I feel like we haven't taken this step. 

"There's, yes, still the passion, but we are a lot less emotionally affected by whatever is going on around the team, which I think is very positive."