Leclerc banking on Monza upgrade to boost Ferrari prospects

Charles Leclerc has confirmed that Ferrari will introduce an upgrade on its SF-24 at this week’s Italian Grand Prix, a move that could be pivotal for the team's performance at its all-important home race.

Leclerc’s podium finish in last Sunday’s Dutch Grand Prix was a pleasant surprise for the Scuderia which had headed into the Zandvoort weekend with tempered expectations.

Leclerc managed to qualify in sixth position on Saturday, but on race day Ferrari’s pace improved beyond what the team had anticipated, allowing Leclerc to finish in third place, while a spirited drive from Carlos Sainz saw the Spaniard recover from a 10th-place start to finish fifth.

Leclerc emphasized the significance of securing a podium ahead of Ferrari’s home race next weekend at Italy’s Temple of Speed.

"It's super important,” he said. "I think we've had three or four races where we were experimenting quite a lot to try and understand what were the fundamental issues of our car for the development, medium-term.

"We've got an upgrade coming very soon. Now I can say actually because Fred said it, so it will be in Monza. And that, I hope, will help us and help us close the gap.

• Read also: F1i's Driver Ratings for the 2024 Dutch GP

"But until the upgrades, I always said that the priority for us was just to do a damage limitation. And today, we were targeting P6. Realistically, I think on paper, that's what we were fighting for.

"However, after three, four laps, the pace was there. And we could do P3, which is a good surprise again. So good points. However, now I just hope that the upgrades helps us to do a step forward."

At Zandvoort, following Ferrari’s performance, Aston Martin rival Fernando Alonso singled out the Italian outfit as a strong contender for a race win in F1’s upcoming rounds.

But Scuderia boss Fred Vasseur pushed back on the two-time world champion’s prediction.

“If he's trying to put pressure [on us], he has to be sure that I won't read the Twitter of Fernando Alonso,” Vasseur joked. “I don't have Twitter!

“I don't need to have someone telling me that we are the favourite or not. We will have exactly the same approach.

“I hope that we will be in better shape in the next two or three events. We were in a much better shape last year on these tracks.

“The fact that we're in better shape on the short corner and so on will help us,” the Frenchman added.

“And if you are able to do a step of one or two-tenths, it's a game changer. But we know also that everybody is improving.

“We know also that [at Zandvoort] we had still a big gap with Lando, quite far away. It means that we have a lot of work to do.

“I will never go to Monza, Baku or whatever with the feeling that it will be an easy one.”

Looking ahead, Leclerc was equally cautious about predicting his team's form at upcoming rounds, underscoring the current dynamic nature of F1’s competitive landscape.

“It's very, very difficult to predict," said the six-time Grand Prix winner. "If you will have asked me that question on Saturday, I will have told you it will be very difficult.

"Sunday was much better. If we manage to understand what's going on with our car, then I'm quite optimistic about the future.

"But for now, we don't quite have the understanding yet."

Keep up to date with all the F1 news via Facebook and Twitter