F1 News: Disaster For Charles Leclerc - 'Lost Performance Since Monaco'

Alex Harrington | Jul 6, 2024

Jun 7, 2024; Montreal, Quebec, CAN; Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc (MCO) races during FP1 practice session of the Canadian Grand Prix at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. Mandatory Credit: David Kirouac-USA TODAY Sports / David Kirouac-USA TODAY Sports

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc faced a disappointing setback today at the British Grand Prix, failing to advance beyond the second qualifying round at Silverstone. This development places Leclerc starting the race on Sunday from the 11th position, outside the coveted top 10.

Leclerc, a former front-runner in the driver's championship alongside Max Verstappen, has seen a noticeable decline in performance since the Monaco Grand Prix. This weekend’s outcome was exacerbated by a decision from Ferrari to roll back recent car upgrades, which had not delivered the expected performance improvements. Despite these modifications, which were aimed at curbing issues like excessive car bouncing since the upgrades introduced post-Imola Grand Prix, Leclerc's teammate, Carlos Sainz, managed to secure a spot in Q3, finishing P7.

Reflecting on the team’s strategy and its implications, Leclerc shared his frustrations.

"We are just struggling a lot at the moment," he stated. "I feel like yesterday we learned a good amount for the team by splitting the cars. That comes also with the fact that you are not really optimizing your weekend and focusing on performance only. Obviously today we lost out to Q3 by a tenth and it was the first time I was driving with this configuration on the dry after FP3 in wet so all in all, we are struggling to optimize the weekend but I think that it will help us long term what we've done yesterday, however, I feel like we're paying a little bit the price today of it."

Leclerc candidly discussed the challenges in reverting to previous specifications, shedding light on the broader performance issues.

"It was a little bit better and that is the main reason why we came joy back to the old package. I won't go too much into detail but for sure we've lost some performance since Monaco as a matter of fact and we are looking into it, that's also why we are doing all these tests. We came to the conclusion that it was the right choice to come back for this weekend mostly because of bouncing. And we'll make the right decision for the future very soon. And what we've done yesterday was very helpful to help us, take the right decision going forward."

Amidst these operational challenges, Ferrari finds itself outpaced by rival teams such as Mercedes, McLaren, and Red Bull. Leclerc lamented the team’s recent performances, saying,

"Well, now Mercedes is in front, McLaren is in front, Red Bull is in front and we are the ones that have been struggling. Since too many races, we need to bounce back and try and find the balance and just the performance that is in the from that."

With an unfavorable weather forecast for Sunday’s race, Lecler welcomed the potential disruption that rain could bring.

"Anything can help us. The worst thing would be a normal race with the same strategy for everybody so I'm welcoming the rain if there is some," he confessed.