Charles Leclerc has spoken after the Barcelona GP to assure fans and the media that “everything will be fine” at Ferrari post his on-track incident with teammate Carlos Sainz.
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Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz have been teammates at Ferrari since 2021. The current 2024 season will be their last, with Lewis Hamilton set to replace Sainz from the 2025 season. It is unclear where Sainz will move to.
During the 2024 Spanish Grand Prix, Sainz overtook Leclerc on the fourth lap and the pair brushed wheels. Leclerc insisted that the incident caused damage on his car. He finished P5, with his departing teammate behind him in P6.
LAP 7/66
— Formula 1 (@F1) June 23, 2024
Replays showing a feisty moment down at Ferrari 😳
Sainz takes to the escape road and stays in P5, ahead of Leclerc. #F1 #SpanishGP pic.twitter.com/G5TXT0unfT
Speaking post-race, the Monégasque driver shared that while he understands that Sainz is “motivated to do something spectacular” to impress rival teams in his lookout for a future seat, he “was probably not the right person to do that with.”
‘Everything Will be Fine’
Photo Credit: Scuderia Ferrari HP
He assured the media that the pair alongside Ferrari “will have a discussion, obviously. I’m sure everything will be fine.” He also revealed that before the race, the team discussed that they would have “to manage the tyres as much as possible.”
This means that on-track incidents such as the one that occurred were not ideal for a team that did not perform strongly throughout the course of the Barcelona GP weekend. For Leclerc, he shared that, “Carlos took that opportunity to overtake, which is a shame as that put us on the back foot and damaged my front wing.”
“It was a small damage, but everything makes a difference. When you see how close we were at the end, it’s a shame.”
Ferrari Frustration
Leclerc also expressed frustration at Ferrari’s lack of speed. The team have previously been in the fight for consistent podiums and wins alongside Red Bull and McLaren, but this weekend could not maximise a result alongside the two.
The team “tried everything” to improve throughout the course of the weekend. However, Leclerc states that, “I don’t think we maximised our race as a team. We are missing pace, but it is the way it is. We weren’t fast enough.”
Considering Max Verstappen of Red Bull and Lando Norris of McLaren finished P1 and P2 respectively, perhaps Leclerc has every right to be frustrated at Ferrari’s performance at the Barcelona GP.
As we head to the Red Bull Ring in Austria next weekend, can the Italian team improve?
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