Leclerc thinks McLaren should beat the team in Brazil, but the sprint schedule will create opportunities

Charles Leclerc believes McLaren will be the team to beat in the Sao Paulo Grand Prix, but Ferrari is close enough to threaten for wins through the sprint weekend format.

Ferrari has won each of the past two races, with Leclerc triumphing at the Circuit of The Americas before Carlos Sainz’s impressive victory in Mexico City last weekend. Leclerc does not expect the Interlagos circuit layout to be as favorable to Ferrari as its rivals, but he says the differences are small enough that he could take advantage of the challenging schedule.

“I think on paper Qatar is probably the most difficult weekend for us in the remaining weekends,” Leclerc said. “Here it’s maybe the second one that we don’t expect to be particularly good. I think Las Vegas should be very good for us and Abu Dhabi should be neutral.

“We really have to focus step by step. These are very fine details and sometimes this can make a big difference, especially on a sprint weekend like this.

“We only have one free practice. If we manage to do a really good job during this free training, anything is possible. The margins are not large enough to speak of a clear P3. If we do really well, we have a chance to win this race. Even though on paper I don’t think we are favorites and McLaren will probably be the team to beat.”

Leclerc also sees opportunities in the fact that Interlagos has a new track surface and teams will only have limited time to adapt to any differences from previous years.

“FP1 is going to be super important,” he said. “As I said before, I think it will play a major role in who will come out on top this weekend. The team that adapts the fastest, the team that anticipated this new asphalt the best, will have the upper hand and hopefully we can be the one.”