F1 News: Charles Leclerc's Frustration Reaches New Height After Abu Dhabi GP - "Not Even This"

The bleep machine swung into action.

Charles Leclerc was left quite irritated after being bluntly refused a burnout request over the radio when he ended the season by finishing P2 in Abu Dhabi. As expected, he put the bleep machine to good use when replying to his race engineer Xavier Marcos Padros (Xavi) over the denial. 

Leclerc started from the front row in the final round of the 2023 season with an aim to win the race and put the team's win tally to two after Carlos Sainz's Singapore GP victory this year.

Unfortunately for the Monegasque driver, he finished where he started in P2 as Max Verstappen secured his 19th win of the season. Despite his determined effort and a second-place finish, his wish for a burnout was denied by the team.

Verstappen on the other hand celebrated his 2023 conquest through multiple donuts that covered the scene with tire smoke. 

The heated exchange between Leclerc and his race engineer Xavi went as follows:

Leclerc: “Can I do some burnouts please?”

Xavi: “No burnouts please. Straight to the grid.”

Leclerc: “Arghhhh, not even this for f**k sake.”

The team later confirmed that the reason Leclerc was not allowed to do the burnouts was due to his fuel levels, he would have run the risk of his fuel going too low for the post-race checks. 

However, despite Leclerc's commendable performance, Ferrari fell short of securing the runner-up position in the Constructors' Championship. George Russell joined Leclerc and Verstappen on the podium as Mercedes clinched second place, edging ahead by a narrow margin of three points.

Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur was of the opinion Leclerc could have been more aggressive in blocking Russell. He told Sky F1: 

“Yeah, it was Charles, could have been a bit more aggressive and to try to slow down Russell.

“But on the other end, I think for the team, it’s also important to finish on the positive tone.

“Charles P2 in the race and to finish like this, I think it’s a first good step for next year.”