Charles Leclerc says Scuderia Ferrari has been pushing like he’s “by no means seen earlier than” to enhance its automobile and was rewarded with second place within the Austrian Grand Prix.

Leclerc missed out on pole place by simply 0.048s on Friday, however endured a troublesome Dash after struggling in moist circumstances on the Purple Bull Ring. In the primary race, nonetheless, Leclerc led a variety of laps attributable to Ferrari’s technique of stopping throughout an early Digital Security Automobile and he says the automobile is feeling a lot improved even when there’s a lengthy method to go to catch Max Verstappen and Purple Bull.

“It feels good to be again on the rostrum, particularly after what was a really troublesome day yesterday,” Leclerc mentioned. “I had a extremely good feeling within the automobile on Friday. I believe with the brand new upgrades, the sensation is getting there, and we had been actually ready for this race so as to verify the nice emotions that we had on Friday, and it labored out.

“No secrets and techniques, we have to nonetheless work extraordinarily arduous to catch Purple Bull, (who) are nonetheless rather a lot sooner come race day. However the feeling is best, and the group is pushing like I’ve by no means seen earlier than when it comes to bringing the upgrades a lot sooner than what was deliberate. That is nice to see.”

Regardless of securing his finest results of the season to date, Leclerc additionally believes his Ferrari wasn’t completely set-up for Sunday’s race and has extra to come back.

“Total, we had a extra constant automobile as we speak, which was good to see,” he mentioned. “I really feel like possibly with these dash weekends, it’s a bit extra unpredictable, much less preparation you may have, and possibly I used to be a bit out of the window when it comes to setup for this race. I had the rear stepping out a bit an excessive amount of, and battling rear degradation. However on the second and final stint, it was a little bit bit higher as I modified my driving. Perhaps we left a bit extra of efficiency there.”

Whereas the Monegasque has fought arduous with Verstappen previously — together with on the Purple Bull Ring — Leclerc says he didn’t strive too arduous to maintain him behind whereas main as they approached the midway level within the race, given the tempo differential between the 2 vehicles.

“At that time I knew it was a matter of time. Max had a lot brisker tires. They’re additionally faster each time now we have the identical tires, so it’s not like I attempted to push like loopy. I knew it was essential to lose as little time as doable on this battle, and for this reason I haven’t been as aggressive as I’ve been in different occasions once we had been combating for actual positions whereas this one was a bit troublesome.

“If he wouldn’t have overtaken me into Flip 4, it was the lap after, and I’d have misplaced extra time for my race, so it wouldn’t have benefitted me in any approach.”