MARANELLO, Italy, Feb 14 (Reuters) - Charles Leclerc declared his love for the new Ferrari SF23 Formula One car after giving it a Valentine's Day debut at the Italian team's Fiorano track in front of hundreds of passionate fans on Tuesday.
The Monegasque beat Spanish team mate Carlos Sainz in a coin flip, conducted by new team principal Fred Vasseur, for the honour of driving the red and black car for its first laps on a sunny morning.
“It feels good,” said Leclerc after two laps. “It feels special. Everything went smoothly. Obviously with two laps its difficult to go into details but I already gave my feedback once I was in the car to the engineers. “The car was running well, smooth. Everything went really well,” added the 2022 championship runner-up, who waved to the cheering fans filling a grandstand and watching from a nearby road bridge.
Sainz was given three laps in the car as compensation for having to wait for his turn, turning down a request over the radio from Leclerc to be allowed one more lap before handing over.“You are P1 for the moment,” he added. Ferrari finished runners-up to Red Bull last season after a campaign punctuated by strategy mistakes, driver errors and a lack of reliability.Vasseur, who joined in January as replacement for the departed Mattia Binotto, said he was confident the team had done a good job on the engine and reliability.The season starts in Bahrain on March 5, with testing at the Sakhir circuit next week.
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