Charles Leclerc on newly-launched SF-23: “Seeing it in front of us for the first time just feels amazing”

Scuderia Ferrari unveiled their latest contender, SF-23, with an exciting on-track launch ahead of the 2023 season. Charles Leclerc described the excitement of launching the new car after all the effort put in by the team in development. 

“Our whole team has put a lot of work into this new car and seeing it in front of us for the first time just feels amazing. It means that the start of the season is very close, which is always an exciting moment.”

The Monegasque driver had the opportunity to drive laps around Ferrari’s Fiorano circuit in the brand-new SF-23, and was excited to debut the car on track with hundreds of fans and partners in attendance. 

“It felt great to drive it here at Fiorano today, sharing the experience with our tifosi and partners. We still have to wait for the first real laps at testing to make any real assessments though.”

Leclerc said that Ferrari’s goal for this year is to improve results-wise and become more consistent. Though the team had strong pace at many venues in 2022, they lost out on potential wins and podiums to their nearest rivals– Red Bull Racing and Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team— on account of strategy and other inconsistencies.

The team will also strive for both the driver’s and constructor’s titles after falling out of contention in 2022 to a dominant Red Bull. Leclerc had led the 2022 championship in the first rounds, but was overtaken in the standings by Max Verstappen at the Spanish Grand Prix and was unable to close the margin for the rest of the season. He ultimately finished the year off in second place, 146 points behind Verstappen.

“Our target for the season will be to do even better than last season, bring home more victories and be more consistent. The biggest goal will be to win both championships and we will do everything to achieve this.“