Leclerc confirms: 'Already driven 2022 car in simulator'

Charles Leclerc confirmed on Thursday ahead of the Austrian Grand Prix that he has already tested on the simulator with a first draft of the 2022 car. The Ferrari driver says that not a great deal can be said about it yet, although it is certain that it feels very different to the current cars.

"It's still very, very early days," Leclerc replied at the Formula 1 press conference. "It feels very different. Then I think it's a question mark for everyone whether we are developing well or not. As I was saying, it's such a different project, it's very, very early days, so nobody knows where we are positioning ourselves compared to the others. But we are working on it."

Leclerc and Sainz also already working on 2022

There is a lot of hard work going on right now, especially at the factory. However, Leclerc himself and Carlos Sainz are already making their contribution too. "It is difficult because for now it's only numbers and predictions, but we can definitely give our feedback, especially in the simulator. [We’re lucky] to have a very good simulator in Ferrari and we can try different things in that simulator and there, the driver input is very, very important," he says.

The Monegasque then explains that he and his teammate are mainly trying to explain what the weaknesses of the SFH-71 are, so that this does not happen again in 2022. "So I would say on the simulator, we've got quite a big input – and we can help a lot, and also with this year's feedback to try and help the team to work in the right direction and for them to know exactly what they need to go quick.”