“I think we are in a better position than on a higher downforce track,” the 26-year-old answered. “So it should be a bit better. How much better, it’s still to be seen.
“We’ll also have some upgrades on the car which should go in the right direction, so hopefully when we put everything together, we are closer than where we were in the last few races.”
Ferrari have enjoyed plenty of success at Monza over the years, with the squad sharing some memorable celebrations with the Tifosi at the track. While Leclerc has denied that there is a sense that the team must perform better at their home event, he acknowledged that racing there provides them with an extra drive.
“I wouldn’t say the feeling is that we must do better,” Leclerc explained. “However, there’s definitely a huge motivation 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 seems and it looks like we’ve had a pretty strong car with a very low-downforce package even in the last few years where performance was not as good. That’s positive, because 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.
“So it’s really important for everybody to do well. However, we are not doing anything different to perform better at this track. It just happened that our low downforce package in the last few years was pretty good and whenever we came here, we were on the good side of our performances.”
