Charles Leclerc, disheartened after a difficult race
Starting from 4th place, Charles Leclerc had good chances of hoping to score big points. But the opposite happened. Lacking pace and caught by the safety car, the Monegasque finished this race in 9th position. A disappointment after the podium in Austria.
In qualifying, Ferrari showed some pace despite finishing 4th and 5th. It was even believed that both Scuderia drivers were capable of reaching the podium at Silverstone. However, the pace of the McLaren cars disrupted the teams’ plans for the race.
Mercedes and Hamilton managed to slip to the front while Ferrari got caught out, even though the prancing horse is paying for its poor pace.
An amazing strategy
Charles Leclerc made an early pit stop in the Grand Prix to switch to the hard tyre, anticipating a potential pit stop from Russell. But the British driver didn’t fall for the trap and continued to exploit his soft tyre when Charles Leclerc cleared the way for him.
After that, the Monegasque found himself having to make the hard tires work, and although Russell came out behind him, he easily overtook the Ferrari driver without any difficulty, taking advantage of his new tires.
« A little bit surprised. I don’t know if we told Russell to do the opposite of what we were doing. If that’s the case, that’s probably why we stopped. After that, I knew it wasn’t optimal, and on top of that, we had the Safety Car at the worst moment because many drivers hadn’t yet stopped. Unfortunately, I think we stopped a little bit too early, but that’s how it is,” stated Charles Leclerc after the Grand Prix.
But even trapped by a dubious strategy, Charles Leclerc believes that that is not Ferrari’s biggest problem during this Grand Prix.
A lack of cruel rhythm
What Ferrari lacked was pace. From the tests, it was evident that the race pace wouldn’t be the strong point for the Italian team this weekend. Additionally, Charles Leclerc was unable to complete any stints in the second practice session due to a problem with his car. He was venturing into the unknown on Sunday, which quickly turned into a nightmare.
« Honestly, the biggest problem is that we are not fast enough, we are lacking a lot in that aspect. Today, McLaren was very fast, Mercedes was faster than us as well… We knew it was going to be a tough race. There wasn’t much else to do,” lamented Charles Leclerc in an interview with Canal+.
It’s a new disappointment for the Monégasque after some promising results in Austria. There are two more Grand Prix for Ferrari before the break to show performance and further develop their car. The next event will be in Hungary in two weeks.
