Charles Leclerc harshly scolded his Ferrari racing engineer Xavi Marcos Padros at the Formula 1 race in Hungary. Maybe because he was annoyed by the course of the race and disappointed by the sporting situation at Ferrari? Leclerc himself gives a completely different reason after the Grand Prix.
“We had so many problems with the radio. My engineer doesn’t understand one of four words because we have so much trouble with the radio,” explains Leclerc. “And that’s why I’m loud on the radio, because I have to make myself heard.”
In fact, the radio traffic between Leclerc and the Ferrari command post was sometimes difficult to understand even in the Formula 1 world signal. For example, Leclerc once asked specifically: “What exactly was that supposed to mean?” And the race engineer replied, with emphasis in his voice, possibly a little annoyed himself: “It’s our turn, okay?”
Leclerc asks for understanding for him and his team: “I just wanted to make sure that I [mein Renningenieur] don’t misunderstand. It was just to get things straight because our radio was having trouble. And we have to get that under control.”
A botched pit stop and a time penalty
But that’s just one of several construction sites at Ferrari, although Leclerc emphasized after seventh place in Hungary that things had gone a lot better than in previous races in the 2023 Formula 1 season. Original sound: “In some races we didn’t always do what I wanted, but this time we did. The slow stop, however, threw us back.”
Leclerc is addressing the first tire change of the race, on lap 17. He pitted at the same time as McLaren driver Lando Norris, but his stop lasted almost exactly nine seconds less. The reason: Ferrari did not manage to lash down the left rear wheel. The mechanic in question finally switched to the replacement impact wrench, but important seconds were wasted.
The result: While Norris was in P5 after the stop, Leclerc was only in P11. And it remained turbulent for the Ferrari driver, because on the way to the second pit stop on lap 43 he also made a major braking mistake at the beginning of the pit lane – and in doing so exceeded the speed limit. A five-second time penalty was the logical consequence.
Former Formula 1 winner Ralf Schumacher has no understanding for this and says on “Sky”: “These are always the things that line up with him. Of course, when things go badly, it often goes really badly. But that must never happen in the area where he drives there. “
The only Ferrari bright spot is tire wear
For Leclerc, the Hungarian Grand Prix therefore developed into “another difficult weekend” that only offered one ray of hope: the Ferrari pace. Because the SF-23 felt “okay” over the race distance, says Leclerc. “I think the result is much worse than it felt in the car.”
The tire wear in particular was “not as bad” as in other races this year, especially not “when you consider how much we pushed,” said Leclerc. “But I don’t want to lean too far out of the window because you don’t hear everything in the car.”
And he adds, a little annoyed: “Even if you as the driver in the car have the feeling that you’re doing well, nobody really notices. But as soon as you’re bad, everyone sees it. That makes it difficult, but it’s part of the game.”
He and the Ferrari team are aware that a major technical step must now be taken because Ferrari has “fallen behind” in recent Grands Prix. “That has been confirmed over the last three weekends,” says Leclerc. “So we have a lot of work to do and it’s now up to us to make as big a step as McLaren.”