Charles Leclerc radio message makes true feelings about new Ferrari F1 car clear

14 February 2023 , 16:31

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Ferrari showed off the SF23 on track on Tuesday morning (Image: Scuderia Ferrari)

A light-hearted radio exchange between Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz saw the Monegasque explain his experience of driving the SF-23 for the first time.

Ferrari pulled the covers off their latest Formula 1 machine on Tuesday morning, in front of a live audience of fans at their Fiorano test track. Not only did they get to see the new livery, but the team also took the brave decision to run the car for a few laps.

Leclerc won a coin toss, giving him the honour of driving the car before his team-mate. As last year's championship runner-up barrelled around the track, Sainz jumped on the radio to chat with his fellow racer – referring to him by one of his middle names.

"Perceval, how is the car? Do you like it?" asked the Spaniard. Leclerc responded: "Hello mate! Can I do one more lap? It feels good, I think we have started well because I am pretty sure we are the fastest on track, so that's a good sign already. Everything feels good, mate."

He said the same thing after clambering back out of the car. "It feels good – the first kilometres with this new project after doing so many kilometres on the simulator, it feels special.

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"Everything went smoothly. Obviously with two laps it's difficult to go into details, but I already gave my feedback once I was in the car there to the engineers to get the first feeling. The car was running well, smooth, everything went really well.

Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz will hope their new car can propel them to the F1 titles in 2023 (Scuderia Ferrari)

"It's amazing to have a grandstand in Fiorano with all the Tifosi here. There are also loads of Tifosi there at the bridge. It is very, very special to feel the support also on a day like this. I don't think it happens to any other teams, and that's why Ferrari is so special."

As he waited for his own turn behind the wheel, Sainz said: "It looks super, super cool – I think it's even a step more beautiful than last year, and I already believe last year we had one of the most beautiful cars. Now, you're just making sure you're doing an installation lap, the brakes are working fine, you start to feel the engine, the traction, you feel the tyres.

"You put the car a bit more on lateral load, longitudinal, you start feeling the first things from the car. As soon as the car and everything is warm, [Charles] is going to push. That's our nature. He's going to try to extract a little bit out of it and have the first feeling, so later we meet with the engineers and we give them our first impressions, which are going to be very subtle."

Daniel Moxon