The F1 weakness Leclerc has turned into one of his strengths in 2021
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During his first two years with Ferrari, Leclerc was consistently out-performing the car in qualifying while dropping down on race day.The Monegasque think he has made significant gains with his tyre preservation and race management but is still looking to find a balance between qualifying and the race.”ad_“Definitely the race management in general,” Leclerc said ahead of this weekend’s Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. “Again, that’s I think since early 2020 that I’ve started to say it’s one of my weaknesses, especially after 2019 where I’ve had a lot of good qualifyings but then in the race I was struggling a bit more.“We were struggling a bit more as a team, but also as a driver I was struggling more than others so I put a lot of work into it in 2020, I got much better and I think in 2021 it’s actually one of my strengths now.Related Bottas pays tribute to Sir Frank Williams: ‘Without him, I wouldn’t be in F1’ Gasly backing Verstappen for F1 title as Leclerc changes mind“I feel good whenever we need to do some tyre management, I feel like I’m going a good job. But there is still a lot more to work on, maybe a balance from my qualifying to the race that I probably didn’t find yet and sometimes I sacrificed a little bit more my qualifying to be better in the race as we’ve seen a few times this season.“But it’s a balance that I’m working on to try and get the perfect balance in between quali and race.Related Hamilton: Beating Verstappen would be most significant F1 title Mercedes’ Kingspan F1 sponsorship outrages Grenfell fire survivorsLeclerc and teammate Carlos Sainz’s consistency this season has allowed Ferrari to pull a significant 39.5 point lead over McLaren in the race for third in the constructors’ championship.Despite not taking a win this season, Leclerc feels that it has been a “positive” campaign for the Scuderia.“Not for the first part of the season,” Leclerc added. “I think in the second part of the season, and especially since we brought the new upgrade with the new engine I think it’s going in that direction and we definitely did a step up after that upgrade.”4“I think it’s been a clean season where we’ve managed to maximise the potential of our car. It’s definitely still far from where we want to win, which is to fight for the wins, but it’s been a positive season.“If you look at last year it’s been a good step in the right direction and hopefully we can do another step in the right direction for next year.”
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