British Grand Prix – Charles and Seb: “United and motivated to make the SF1000 more competitive”

It’s the first day at work for the Scuderia Ferrari drivers at the British Grand Prix, which takes place this weekend at Silverstone. In the morning, Charles Leclerc and Sebastian Vettel reacquainted themselves with the historic English track, tackling it on foot with the engineers. After the track walk, they had meetings to prepare for the two free practice sessions that take place tomorrow at 11 and again at 15 local time (12 and 16 CET).

With the media. In the afternoon, Charles and Seb took part in the remote format media session adopted for this season. The first question picked up on comments, published on Tuesday in an Italian daily paper, made in a long interview with Chairman John Elkann, when he said it would take a good while before Ferrari was winning again. “The President wanted to address the fans and everyone in motorsport in a transparent way, explaining the current situation within the team at the moment,” affirmed Leclerc. “And I think that was important. Despite the difficulties, I have to say that neither myself nor the team are frustrated, but rather we want to work together, united and motivated to try and make the SF1000 more competitive, both for this season and the next one.”

Positive atmosphere. “Everyone at Scuderia Ferrari is pushing to the maximum to react to the current state of affairs,” added Leclerc. “As we saw with the upgrades we brought to Austria for the second race, the guys in Maranello are doing their utmost and Seb and I can only do the same in trying to give them as accurate feedback as possible which will be useful to correct the car’s weak points.” Seb echoed his team-mate’s comments: “I feel very sorry for the team, because I know how hard each one of them is working. It’s a difficult situation for everyone and only by pulling together can we get out of it.”

At the Nürburgring. In recent days came the news that three more races had been added to this year’s calendar, for the months of October and November: the Eifel Grand Prix at the Nürburgring, the Portuguese event at Portimao and the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix at Imola. Sebastian was asked for his views on a race in the Eifel mountains in October. “Even I was surprised,” he said. “I don't know if you’re aware that this area is known as the ‘German Siberia’. I would be really amazed if the weather didn’t play a key role in this race. In these parts, in October the temperature can be anything from 20 degrees or near to zero with a lot of ice. It will be an interesting race.” This weekend, Seb could reach the landmark of 3000 points scored in Formula 1 (he needs just six) and only Lewis Hamilton has scored more. “I don't get so excited about numbers anymore. I think the only statistics that really count are those relating to race wins and world titles.”