Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc has addressed claims that the Scuderia were being laughed at in 2020 for the way their season ended up going.

The Prancing Horse rather trotted at best last year in the sport as a sixth-place finish in the Constructors' standings was the best they could achieve; behind McLaren, Racing Point and Renault in the midfield battle.

Indeed, it was a particularly tough campaign for Sebastian Vettel, who has since joined Aston Martin, whilst Leclerc managed a few decent performances but, of course, was hamstrung by the Ferrari's overall lack of power.

It was put to the Monegasque, then, that the team was being laughed at last season over their misfortunes and that that has only stopped this year now that they seem to be far more competitive. 

Leclerc, though, says he's not paid any attention to that anyway:

“I have never really considered people that have been laughing at us. We have been focusing on ourselves," he told Reuters.

“Last year was definitely a difficult season to accept where we were but I think the team has done a great job by accepting pretty quickly that we took a step back and have been working in the best way possible since that moment.

“This year you can see that. The team has made a step in the right direction and it shows that all the work that people have done back in Maranello and at the track is paying off. We can see it on the track.

“The road is still long and we want to be fighting for the first positions soon. The way we work is the right way and we just need to keep working as a team.”

Certainly, 2021 has been a far better year for the Ferrari team so far with the Maranello-based outfit right in the thick of the action in terms of a fight for third in the Constructors' with old foes McLaren.

Leclerc is more than playing his part, too, with a handful of strong finishes so far on Sunday afternoons - the latest of which came last time out as he crossed the line in fourth place in Spain.

Of course, Ferrari want to be right at the front of the field sooner rather than later but it's a process and it appears to be one that is heading in the right direction ahead of the rule changes in 2022.