Ferrari duo Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz are of the view that the Scuderia are in the hunt for the 2024 Formula 1 constructors’ championship after claiming a 1-2 at the United States Grand Prix over the weekend, Afrosport reports.
Leclerc won the race for his third of the season while Sainz finished second ahead of reigning world champion Max Verstappen.
The result put Ferrari 48 points behind leader McLaren in the constructors’ championship while the Italian automobile giant is just eight points behind Red Bull Racing, taking 26 points off them in Austin.
It sets up an interesting battle for the constructors’ title with five races remaining and Leclerc believes the upgrades that had been introduced at the Singapore Grand Prix are now paying off.
“It hasn’t been an easy weekend until now, I struggled a little bit with the feeling in the car, but I had the confidence that in race the feeling was better, and it was the case,” Leclerc said per Motorsport.com.
“We thought that the others would improve a lot more, but we still had the upper hand. I’m really happy with the 1-2 – we couldn’t have dreamed of better.
“…They have been working like crazy over the last few months to bring the upgrades that we had in Singapore and the last few races, and it seems to be paying off.
“The whole team is working super well, the pitstops were really good, everything worked out well so I’m really happy. Now we are still targeting the title. It’s a long way to go but a good start to this triple-header.”
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Sainz also emphasised Leclerc’s thoughts stating: “It’s a result that puts us where we want to [be] in the fight for the constructors’ now, so extremely happy for everyone in Ferrari right now.
“…[Tyre management is] definitely the strength of the car this year, how long we can go on stints and how little deg we have. It’s something I enjoy and something that has made me enjoy racing a lot more than last year.
“We spent all of the races defending and losing places; this year it seems like we can go in attack mode and just push and overtake, and it’s fun. I hope it stays like this.”
Ferrari will hope to be competitive again at the Mexico City Grand Prix this weekend, an event that has been won by either Mercedes or Red Bull since it’s return in 2015, with Max Verstappen taking five wins and Lewis Hamilton two.
