“It’s good to be back on the podium” - Charles Leclerc puts behind recent frustration as he grabs P2 in the Austrian F1 GP

Charles Leclerc returned to the Formula 1 podium in Austria for the first time since the Azerbaijan Grand Prix earlier this year. Ferrari had been showing signs of improvement. After a surprisingly good result in Canada, the team is finally back after Leclerc's P2 finish around the Red Bull Ring.

Talking to David Coulthard, he mentioned that he was glad to have a podium finish despite the hard time he faced during the Sprint.

"I think Friday and today, we have maximized what we had. Really, it's more yesterday that I was off the pace, but it's good to be back on the podium. The upgrades we brought on the car made me feel a little bit better in those conditions, which is looking good for the future."

Ferrari was looking extremely strong during the qualifying session for the race on Friday. Charles Leclerc had qualified P2, right behind Max Verstappen and close enough to him. Following him up on P3 was his teammate, who finished P4 in the race since the other Red Bull of Sergio Perez was able to make it up from P15 to P3.

The start of the season was weak for the Maranello-based outfit, but they have been showing signs of progress recently with upgrades in the car. Leclerc mentioned that the upgrades were brought in earlier than planned, and it helped them to achieve this result.

"The team has done an excellent job by bringing this upgrade earlier, so that's great. But obviously there's still a lot of work to do because Max and Checo had a lot of pace."

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Charles Leclerc optimistic about British Grand Prix, hoping to challenge Red Bull

Charles Leclerc

As it seemed in the race, Ferrari was the second fastest car after Mercedes struggled to keep the pace up. Although they are standing fourth in the constructors' standings, Charles Leclerc has quite some expectations from the team.

Talking about the British GP in Silverstone, which is set to be held next week, he stated that the track has always yielded good results for them. Further upgrades, he believes, could help them be more competitive and perhaps challenge the Red Bulls more.

"These are my two favorite tracks that are non-city tracks, and in Silverstone, we always had great results. So, hopefully, we can take advantage of the new upgrades we have in the car and be a bit more of a challenge to the Red Bulls."

Notably, in the 2022 season, Carlos Sainz achieved his maiden (and the most recent) victory in Formula 1 at Silverstone. Charles Leclerc had been a victim of poor strategy choice in the race, which kept him away from the podium.

The team is battling hard to achieve the second-place in the constructors' standings. However, they are still a couple of points away at fourth.