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Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc believes that the next four races will play a key role in shaping his title chances in 2022. Leclerc came storming out of the blocks at the start of the new era in Formula 1, but his comfortable Championship lead was quickly eroded with Max Verstappen now establishing a 49-point buffer over his rival. Having not won a race since taking the chequered flag in Australia back in April, power unit problems and strategy mishaps have cost Leclerc dearly. And with four races to go until the mid-season break, Leclerc has picked out this period of the calendar, which sees Formula 1 compete at Silverstone , the Red Bull Ring, Paul Ricard and the Hungaroring, as a crucial run if he is to remain in the title picture. Speaking to reporters at Silverstone ahead of the British Grand Prix, Leclerc said: “I love it here. I love the track. I love fast corners in general. “This year we’ve got a bit more of a competitive car compared to the last times we came … [Read more...] about Leclerc: Next four races ‘very important’ in title race

Although Lewis Hamilton was runner-up on Friday’s timesheet at Silverstone, it is Mercedes’ long-run pace that has the Brackley squad hopeful. After Friday’s opening damp squib of a practice hour, the Formula 1 teams laid down the laps in the afternoon when Hamilton was second quickest behind Carlos Sainz. The Briton, running his updated W13 with new front suspension, floor and sidepod inlets, was just 0.163s slower than the Ferrari driver . As for the long-run pace, F1.com’s data suggests Red Bull have the edge over Ferrari by 0.21s with Mercedes around 0.67s off the pace. The Brackley squad believe they are closer than that. “It felt pretty good,” said Hamilton, while George Russell described it as “pretty promising”. He added: “We were significantly faster than them [McLaren] and when the tyres were warm at the end, we were even faster than Ferrari. They dropped a bit at the end but we improved lap after lap.” https://t.co/42XicoYcrC 's data suggests that Red … [Read more...] about Mercedes banking on race pace at Silverstone