Charles: “Starting off on the right foot on Friday will be the key”

Charles Leclerc arrived in the Circuit of the Americas paddock in fine form. “I like the American atmosphere, there’s so much enthusiasm and we are always given a very warm welcome,” said the Monegasque. He expects the Ferrari to be more competitive here than in Qatar. “This track should suit the characteristics of our SF-23 a bit better and I hope we can fight with McLaren and Mercedes on equal terms, even with the Sprint format.”

Maximum concentration.  Charles knows what to expect from these weekends. “We have just one free practice session and we have to get everything just right. If we manage that, then we can gain a competitive advantage which could make the difference over the rest of the weekend. But if we get it wrong, we risk spoiling the whole weekend. We have prepared very well for this race back in the factory and now is the time to put into practice the lessons learned from the simulator.”

Goals. The Scuderia has two objectives in mind for this final part of the season. “Of course, we want to do as well as possible in the remaining races and we still hope to be able to take second place in the Constructors’,” added Charles, “but we also want to use the final Grands Prix of 2023 to learn as much possible for next year, as our goal for 2024 has to be to fight for the wins all the time.”