Motor racing-Monza motivation not enough for a Ferrari win, says Leclerc

(Reuters) – This weekend’s Italian Grand Prix brings plenty of motivation for Ferrari to impress, but they are not quite ready for a home win, Charles Leclerc said on Thursday.

Leclerc is the last Ferrari driver to win at Monza, with his 2019 triumph, and they are the most successful team in the history of the race, but he does not feel they are under extra pressure to perform better than the other teams.

“I wouldn’t say the feeling is that we must do better. However, there’s definitely a huge motivation,” Leclerc told reporters

“Because it’s not only a normal weekend that starts from the Thursday to the Sunday, but it starts already from Monday in Maranello where we have so many tifosi and that obviously motivates everybody.

“It’s our home race and as much as it’s giving exactly the same amount of points as other races, emotionally speaking and for the whole team it’s definitely a special one.”

Leclerc comes into Monza on the back of two third-place finishes, and while another place on the podium could be on the cards, he does not expect them to battle for first place.

“I don’t let the last two races change our expectations. We are in a difficult moment for the team. We are struggling a little bit with pace at the moment,” he said.

“I think we understood quite a few things since Zandvoort, especially on what happened on Saturday, where our performance was quite far from ideal. But on the Sunday, it was a good race. In Spa it was good as well.

“Here, it should be a bit more in the direction of Spa, so hopefully we’ll be a bit more in the fight for the podium. However, for the win, I don’t think we quite have that yet.”

The Monza track has been completely resurfaced for the first time since 1922 and new kerbs have been installed, with RB driver Daniel Ricciardo saying the circuit has lost some of its character, but Leclerc will wait before passing judgement.

“It’s difficult to judge for now. You get to a point where you’ve got to renew the tarmac. On the kerbs, it’s true that some tracks have the historic kerbs,” he said.

“But I haven’t tried the new kerbs yet. So maybe they feel even better compared to the old ones.”

(Reporting by Trevor Stynes, editing by Pritha Sarkar)