Photo: Scuderia Ferrari Press Office
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc says he’s not frustrated with his team’s strategists over their decision to pit him late at Spa. The Monegasque driver had fought his way back up to P5 after being forced to pit early when a visor tear-off got stuck in his brake duct.
However, despite his valiant efforts, Ferrari decided to pit him again with two laps left in the race in order to get the fastest lap bonus point – at that moment even Leclerc seemed uncertain over team radio.
When he cleared the pitstop exit, Leclerc was immediately engaged in a fight with Fernando Alonso, compromising his lap time. To make matters worse, the Ferrari driver also received a five-second penalty for speeding in the pit lane during that final stop.
“At the end, it’s more frustrating to see the delta of pace there was between Red Bull and us, which is the thing we need to work on,” he said, while taking full blame for the penalty, stating that it was “nothing to do with the team.”
“If you look at Red Bull, they were on another level, and they found something this weekend that is a bit worrying for us,” said the Ferrari man, who also admitted that his chances to win the title have gone down drastically, reports Motorsport.
“They are extremely quick in the straights, it looks like they have no downforce, but then they get into the corner, and they are as quick as us, or quicker. So, it’s a bit worrying.”
At one point during the race, Leclerc asked his race engineer why he was being brought into the pits so early, seemingly unsure of what was going on. However, he would later confess that there had been no change in Ferrari’s approach over the radio with regards to how they talk strategy.
“No, we’ve always done that. This time we were a bit clearer because we were a bit in no man’s land and nobody was fighting with us, so we had more freedom to speak about it.”
When he cleared the pitstop exit, Leclerc was immediately engaged in a fight with Fernando Alonso, compromising his lap time. To make matters worse, the Ferrari driver also received a five-second penalty for speeding in the pit lane during that final stop.
“At the end, it’s more frustrating to see the delta of pace there was between Red Bull and us, which is the thing we need to work on,” he said, while taking full blame for the penalty, stating that it was “nothing to do with the team.”
“If you look at Red Bull, they were on another level, and they found something this weekend that is a bit worrying for us,” said the Ferrari man, who also admitted that his chances to win the title have gone down drastically, reports Motorsport.
“They are extremely quick in the straights, it looks like they have no downforce, but then they get into the corner, and they are as quick as us, or quicker. So, it’s a bit worrying.”
At one point during the race, Leclerc asked his race engineer why he was being brought into the pits so early, seemingly unsure of what was going on. However, he would later confess that there had been no change in Ferrari’s approach over the radio with regards to how they talk strategy.
“No, we’ve always done that. This time we were a bit clearer because we were a bit in no man’s land and nobody was fighting with us, so we had more freedom to speak about it.”
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