Charles Leclerc says Ferrari’s current Formula 1 pace won’t be enough to secure podiums without immediate technical development and upgrades.
Before the safety car, Charles Leclerc looked set to finish the Spanish Grand Prix in fourth place yesterday…
But we know what happened next: back out on fresh hard tyres—his only available set—Max Verstappen had absolutely no grip. He spun heavily at the restart, nearly hitting the wall; Charles Leclerc pulled alongside him and the two cars made slight contact, triggering an initial outburst from the Red Bull driver.
Hard Tyres, No Chance
Leclerc ultimately wasn’t penalised by the FIA for the incident. In any case, in hindsight, the Monegasque driver believes Verstappen stood little chance on hard tyres.
“Well, as soon as I knew Max was on hard tyres, I thought: ‘OK, that’s not a great tyre for the last five laps,’ especially if there’s no tyre management or anything like that.”
“So I knew it was flat-out attack for me and that there was an opportunity to finish on the podium. Max went into the final corner with a bold move, lost the rear on exit, and then I was almost side by side and very happy to take third place. Then we touched on the pit straight.”
Calm Clash With Verstappen
Max Verstappen was furious on the radio, claiming Leclerc had hit him and should give the position back. True to character, the Ferrari driver responded calmly and diplomatically to his Red Bull counterpart.
“I probably would’ve been very emotional if it had been the other way around too, because you’re fighting for third place.”
“So you just try everything to get that third place back, and I think he knew it would be very tough on track with the tyres he had.”
“So yes, honestly, I don’t feel anything particular about it. There was nothing special. I overtook on the inside. He tried to squeeze me onto the dirty part of the track, then I got the upper hand because I had more speed from the mistake he made.”
Strategy Over Speed Choice
“And then I was trying to get a tow from the McLaren, moved slightly to the left. He didn’t seem to want to move at all. And we touched slightly, but there was nothing special.”
Leclerc had pinned his hopes on two sets of fresh medium tyres to make the difference in the race, but in the end, grip from that compound wasn’t great…
“Actually, the first set of mediums was really good. The last set wasn’t great.”
“I was trying to manage them as much as possible because I knew I had to go a bit longer, as all my rivals were extending their second stint to have a shorter third one.”
“So I was just trying to manage those tyres. I had to compromise the final stint a bit, but it’s not like I expected to be super fast.”
“I just thought that given our situation, it was the best way to go, and the race confirmed that.”
Leclerc Questions Ferrari Progress
Podium in Barcelona, podium in Monaco: Charles Leclerc has delivered two solid results on two very different tracks.
Does that mean his Ferrari is improving? Not really—Leclerc still seems quite pessimistic about Maranello’s prospects.
“Yesterday, we finished on the podium because we got lucky with the safety car. Otherwise, I think fourth was our position.”
“So I don’t think I have much more confidence in consistently finishing on the podium. But yes, we’re getting there. I guess we’re starting to understand the car, how we can set it up to extract the most from it.”
“But still, we have to go in pretty extreme directions, which isn’t so pleasant to drive. So unless we have some upgrades very soon, I think it’ll be tough to regularly fight for podiums.”
“It’s not like I’m over the moon with a second or third place, but it still feels good because coming into the weekend, I didn’t expect it—and that was also the case last week in Monaco.”
Strong Weekend, Weak Package
“However, in Monaco, the disappointment was huge because in FP1, FP2, FP3, we were very strong. That wasn’t the case here.”
“But I knew I had sacrificed qualifying on Saturday to be strong in the race yesterday, and that seems to have paid off—with a bit of luck too—which gave us the podium.”
“So in that respect, it’s a nice surprise. And I’m really happy with our weekend, but I’m not happy with our overall performance. And on that front, we need to improve quickly.”
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