Charles Leclerc feels there are "positive signs" that Ferrari can improve on their race day performance going into 2023. The Monegasque had a strong start to the 2022 campaign and looked to be on course for a close championship battle with Max Verstappen. However, the Scuderia experienced problems with reliability and strategy at several race weekends, and the team found themselves slipping behind Red Bull as the year progressed. With four races left in the campaign, Leclerc remains in the battle for P2 in the World Championship and hopes that the Italian squad can continue to improve their execution on Sundays. "I think honestly, it's mostly Sunday execution as a whole [that we need to improve]," Leclerc told media, including RacingNews365.com . "So this is loads of things; it's tyre management – as we've seen in the last race, it's still a weak point – communication, strategy, reliability... "Just to be a stronger team on Sunday, and to actually finalise the weekend in the best way possible, because [on] the Saturday we've been often very strong, but [on] Sunday sometimes things fell apart."
Can Ferrari improve Sunday performance in 2023?
Looking ahead to 2023, Leclerc believes there are already signs of improvement from Ferrari in addressing the issue, meaning that he is optimistic that it is something they can continue to work on going forwards. "I think for communication, strategy, etc, [there have] been a few races now that we've been working on it and I've already seen positive signs, so that is good," the 25-year-old explained. "And then [with] the tyre management, as we've seen in the last races where this is a bit more difficult, we need to identify all the causes of it. "But this is a continuous work that we are doing and that we are getting better at."
Leclerc suggests where tyre management needs to improve
In terms of tyre management, Leclerc thinks that the team are still behind Red Bull in handling certain situations. "I think we've seen it this year in some races, we've been very good with tyre management. The only thing we need to be [is] to be good in very specific situations," he added. "Like in Japan, the Sunday was a bit cooler, [and] obviously, it was raining also. And then when it's a bit of an unexpected situation, that's where we probably are not as good as maybe Red Bull is, so on that we need to work."
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