Leclerc foresees 'very challenging' season for Ferrari

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Charles Leclerc has warned Ferrari fans that the Italian outfit is likely to struggle more this season compared to last year.

Ferrari heads into the double Austrian Grand Prix weekend with a car that under-performed in pre-season testing and which is likely to be outpaced at the Red Bull Ring by its Mercedes and Red Bull rivals.

The Scuderia has planned a significant upgrade for its SF1000 contender in Hungary later this month, but in the interim, Leclerc will be in damage limitation mode.

"I think it's going to be a very challenging season for us. It's definitely not going to be easy," said the Monegasque ahead of this weekend's opening round.

"We still have this question mark, and we still have to wait for qualifying to be sure about what we say: even though we are 99% sure that we will be struggling more than last year."

While F1's forced hiatus has completely disrupted the 2020 campaign, it did allow Ferrari's engineers to extensively pour over the data from winter testing after the factory's shutdown and devise the SF1000's upcoming updates.

"I think after the testing, we more or less knew that we were not where we wanted to be, especially on the qualifying pace," he said.

"Then there's been this whole situation with coronavirus, everything was closed.

"Once they reopened, we re-analysed the data with the small amount of time we had, and I think we decided to make a step back to try and analyse from where the issue is coming from first, to then work on the issues.

"That's where we're at at the moment. We have tried a different route for Budapest."

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Leclerc's teammate Sebastian Vettel was eager to get a clear picture on Ferrari's relative performance.

"It will be interesting to see where we are, to get an answer on that, and then we have to take it from there," said Vettel. "I think at this stage, also it's unknown how long the season would be.

"I think at the moment we have eight races scheduled. Whether we will have these eight races, whether we will have more, a lot of things are unknown."

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Phillip van Osten

Motor racing was a backdrop from the outset in Phillip van Osten's life. Born in Southern California, Phillip grew up with the sights and sounds of fast cars thanks to his father, Dick van Osten, an editor and writer for Auto Speed and Sport and Motor Trend. Phillip's passion for racing grew even more when his family moved to Europe and he became acquainted with the extraordinary world of Grand Prix racing. He was an early contributor to the monthly French F1i Magazine, often providing a historic or business perspective on Formula 1's affairs. In 2012, he co-authored along with fellow journalist Pierre Van Vliet the English-language adaptation of a limited edition book devoted to the great Belgian driver Jacky Ickx. He also authored "The American Legacy in Formula 1", a book which recounts the trials and tribulations of American drivers in Grand Prix racing. Phillip is also a commentator for Belgian broadcaster Be.TV for the US Indycar series.