Charles Leclerc tells Ferrari what "we need to" do after F1 Belgian GP podium

Charles Leclerc says Ferrari still need to “maximise” their latest F1 upgrade despite scoring his fifth podium of the year.

Leclerc finished a strong third at the Belgian Grand Prix, beating Red Bull’s Max Verstappen to the final spot on the podium.

It’s a welcome boost for Ferrari, as they introduced a new suspension upgrade this weekend.

Leclerc felt that the upgrade has immediately had a positive impact, but hinted there’s still more to come from it.

“I hope so. Honestly, we’ve had what we expected with this upgrade and that’s really positive,” Leclerc said in the post-race drivers’ press conference in Belgium.

“We need to keep learning about how to maximise this new upgrade. It’s still pretty new, but it’s a good first weekend and I’m happy that we are on the podium to thank the whole team back in Maranello.

“We keep pushing and hopefully we’ll put soon a bit more pressure on the McLarens.”

Leclerc reflects on Verstappen fight

Leclerc’s entire race was centred around keeping Verstappen at bay.

Verstappen looked quicker in wet conditions, but couldn’t make a move on Leclerc.

In the dry, the gap between the pair remained between 1.1s and 2.0s.

“Max was behind the whole race within two seconds, so it’s never easy,” Leclerc added.

“But I  knew that the first part of the race was the trickiest one for us because we maybe didn’t have the downforce that McLaren or Max had, as they compromised a little bit in qualifying to be better in the rain today.

“But luckily, it dried up pretty quickly and then the pace was good. But still, Max was right behind the whole race, so I’m pretty happy that we managed to keep that third place.”

At one point, Leclerc told race engineer Bryan Bozzi to ‘leave him alone’, as Verstappen closed in during the final part of the race..

“I mean, obviously the pressure is high, especially in those conditions because as soon as you are ten, 15 centimetres out of the right line, then it’s wet or greasy and you can lose the line and make a very big mistake,” Leclerc explained.

“So, at one point I just told Bryan to leave me alone, but obviously he’s trying to give me the most information. Sometimes I need them, today I didn’t and I let him know.”