The weekend in Barcelona brought question marks to Ferrari about the current competitiveness of the SF-24s, but also internal discontent that will have to be quickly resolved, because Formula 1 will soon return to the track for a European tour de force in which the energies they must be fully channeled for the purpose of the result on the track.
Charles Leclerc completed today’s Grand Prix at Montmelò in fifth place, as best Ferrari driver. It’s a small, meager consolation, made even more bitter by the contact he had at the first corner with his teammate Carlos Sainz in the first stint of the race.
At that juncture, Leclerc’s Red was damaged at the endplate of the front wing, generating a loss of load which, according to what the Monegasque claimed, was felt quite a bit during the 66 laps. But what makes Charles even more nervous is, according to him, that Sainz did not respect the instructions given in the pre-match briefing.
“The fight between me and Carlos wasn’t fair but above all it wasn’t fair at that moment, because after this morning’s briefing we knew that we both had to save the tire, especially in the last corner. On that particular lap I did that what I had to do, while Carlos didn’t save his tires at all and overtook me at the end of the straight. In the end that’s how it went, but we shouldn’t have taken those risks and acted as if the corner wasn’t there.”
Charles Leclerc, Scuderia Ferrari
Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images
“Unfortunately, in the contact at Turn 1, I damaged my front wing, on the left endplate and this made me lose some time. In the end we will clarify everything within the team. Then Carlos was competing in his home grand prix, I think it was a special moment for him and for his career. He wanted to do something spectacular but it wasn’t the right time to do it. It cost us a position and it certainly wasn’t good.”
Leclerc took things further, stating that without the contact with Sainz in the first stint he would have also managed to take the position over George Russell, who finished just a few tenths ahead of him under the checkered flag.
However, a clear look at the situation linked to the performance of the SF-24 could not be missing: this weekend the Red was the fourth force on the track due to a clear lack of pace.
“In my opinion we missed the opportunity to finish in fourth place precisely in the contact, because then we managed to have a good race. But with the ifs and buts we could have also done other things. I think about the strategies. We were behind and the pace was good, it was necessary to try to do something different after the race, it’s easier to say we could have done better. The problem with the weekend is that we lacked pace and that’s what we need to focus on.”
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