‪“It was just not possible”: Charles Leclerc unsure if Ferrari are closing the gap to Red Bull‬

Charles Leclerc secured his first podium of the 2023 F1 season this afternoon at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix, with Ferrari taking their first real step towards closing the gap to the likes of Red Bull and Aston Martin this year.

Although the Ferrari driver started the race on pole, Ferrari's inherent speed was simply no match to that of Red Bull's, meaning that Leclerc was unable to defend against Sergio Perez and Max Verstappen, who finished first and second respectively.

In a post-race media interaction, Charles Leclerc revealed that Ferrari are doing everything to understand what is giving Red Bull such a significant upper hand, whilst emphasizing that the feeling in the car is certainly improving. He said:

“Red Bull are in another league when it comes to the race. A very good (qualy) lap managed to put us in front but over 51 laps it was just not possible, they have so much pace than us in race pace. They found something that we didn’t yet.”

“The feeling is a little bit better but when I see the gap, we don’t really know how much we closed the gap. The Aston Martin was also really quick so we have some work to do. Fernando was pushing, I knew what his intentions were at the beginning. At the end it was close but not enough for Fernando today.”

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Charles Leclerc "surprised" by reaction towards his song release

Over the rather long break this month, Charles Leclerc released a piano piece on Spotify, which quickly gained popularity and ranked very high on the iTunes song chart. The single took the internet by storm and immediately received a positive reaction from the public.

On Spotify, the Monegasque wrote:

“I’m excited to share with you a piano song that I’ve been working on, born out of my passion for music and created as a way to disconnect from racing and relax in between races. I’ve created this song around the Australian Formula 1 Grand Prix which is why I called it AUS23 (1:1).”

As reported by F1.com, in media interactions ahead of the 2023 Azerbaijan Grand Prix, the Ferrari driver revealed that he was surprised by the positive reaction that the song received across several platforms. Charles Leclerc said:

“Very surprised. I knew that it would make a little bit of noise, a Formula 1 driver that releases a song is something that is not too common. But I didn’t want to do big marketing or a big boom with it. I just wanted to put it out for the people that enjoyed my stories when I was playing piano. And I actually really enjoyed the process of registering a song, adding some other instruments like the violin, and all of this stuff, and it was cool.”

“Honestly, it didn’t really take me much time. I’ve got a team of people that have helped me massively with all the paper stuff, to put it out on Spotify, which is the part that takes the longest. But on my side, I just really enjoyed it. I just basically did what I always do in between races, which is to play piano, but at the same time I registered it. It’s fun to see that people like it, so it’s good.”

Charles Leclerc also reportedly expressed an interest in a potential music collaboration with seven-time F1 world champion Lewis Hamilton.