Leclerc Criticizes Ongoing Mistakes by Ferrari in F1

During his out lap, Leclerc quickly noticed that the racing line appeared dry. He suggested, “I think we should switch to softs,” but the team informed him that “Verstappen stayed out.”

Undeterred, Leclerc reiterated his request for soft tires and added, “Let me know if you want me to set a lap time.” The team then instructed him to complete a banker lap on intermediates, which he did before heading to the pits.

Alex Albon was the sole driver to begin Q2 on slicks and posted a time that remained at the top of the leaderboard until the session’s end.

When asked by F1 Flow.com if he switched to slicks too late, Leclerc replied, “Well, definitely.

“I mean, I called for slicks on the out lap, and it was clearly the right choice. Alex did that and switched to slicks earlier than everyone else. There was no risk involved, and it proved to be the correct decision.

“For some reason, the team decided otherwise. That’s it. We’re just making our lives unnecessarily difficult. In these situations, I had a clear opinion, but we opted for something else. So, I’m frustrated.

“Having said that, other drivers pursued the same strategy as us and made it to Q3. However, instead of a straightforward Q2 progression, we’re relying on minor details. When the track is dry, you need slick tires. I don’t know what happened.”

Charles Leclerc, Ferrari SF-23

Photo by: Patrick Vinet / F1 Flow Images

When asked if he could have done more to convince the team to let him pit, Leclerc stated, “I don’t think there was a clearer way for me to express myself this time. So, no.

“But I will have an internal discussion with the team and try to understand what we can do because it’s not the first time we’ve found ourselves in such situations where we’re on the wrong side.

“I don’t want to comment on it extensively, but we need to improve. We cannot afford to repeat these mistakes. So, I’ll talk to the team.”

Leclerc emphasized that the team’s decision was not influenced by Albon’s progress on slicks since he was confident the track was dry enough.

“Again, I clearly expressed my opinion, and I can’t do much more than that,” he said. “I have no idea about Alex’s lap times with the slicks. Maybe he was five seconds slower; I don’t know. But I had a clear opinion.

“Obviously, Alex was fast. So, I need to understand the reasoning behind that decision. What was the objective? Because the track was dry.”

He added, “You can’t be aware of everything happening on the track. But considering how fast [Albon] was, maybe we should have reconsidered our strategy.”

As Q2 reached its final phase, the rain returned and gradually intensified, making it extremely challenging to run on slick tires.

Acknowledging the difficult circumstances, the Ferrari driver stated, “It was really tricky. But again, we put ourselves in a difficult situation because we relied heavily on traffic and the out lap on slicks.

“If you have cars on intermediates coming up behind you in the rain and you slow down slightly, you start sliding everywhere. It’s just not an ideal situation. It would have been much easier to go out earlier. But again, it is what it is.”

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More about Ferrari mistakes

• Ferrari F1 Team Official Website
• Charles Leclerc Official Website
• F1 Flow.com
• F1 Canadian GP Qualifying Report
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