SHANGHAI (CHINA) (ITALPRESS) – “There are many things we can learn from the first weekend, while there are many that did not go as we wanted. I’m sure we will put all the pieces together for this weekend and take a step forward.” These were the words of Charles Leclerc, during media day, on the eve of the first track day of the Shanghai GP. “I remain convinced that the potential of the car is much greater than what we showed in Australia, but now we have to put the pieces together this weekend,” concluded Ferrari’s Monegasque.
Also on the same page is teammate Lewis Hamilton: “I think we will work on the setup to see if and how much more speed we can extract from the car. Last weekend taught us a lot of things. We know what aspects we need to work on and what things are down to a good point,” said the seven-time World Champion. “I interact a lot with the team. I have no reference on last year’s performance because the characteristics of the single-seater are still new to me. Also we will only have FP1 to try everything.”
The favorite is Lando Norris, fresh off his success in Australia: “I expect a more competitive Ferrari this weekend. Red Bull was very fast in Australia and should be taken into consideration. I think in dry track conditions we are slightly faster than the other teams, but Ferrari and Red Bull are close,” he told a press conference. “I hope to do even better than we did in Melbourne. but I think the race overall was very good. We had a 15-second gap on the other teams. Verstappen was good at taking advantage of the safety cars to stay glued to me, but every race has its own story. I’ll be happy if we can fight for the win.” “The team order to Piastri? It was a moment in the race when there were drivers to be lapped, and going to battle in those conditions with even lapped drivers in the middle would not have been the best solution – he comments – Everything was done in the interest of the team, for the rest of the GP we were free to race.”
Recovering from the accident in Australia, Fernando Alonso has no intention of giving up: “I still feel I am fast and that is the most important thing for a driver. I have always been very competitive. If I didn’t feel as fast as before, I would be the first not to enjoy myself. The motivation is still high,” said the Aston Martin driver, “I’ve been lucky enough to race in different eras of the sport. I feel lucky to still be here and to be fast. I raced the first Chinese GP in 2004 and now it is 2025 and I feel I am as competitive as I was before. As the years have gone by, the tools available to a driver have increased. I have improved a lot over the course of my career. I feel privileged.”
-Photo Ipa/Agency-
(ITALPRESS).
