Leclerc dejected after the race: “It’s incredibly frustrating”
Poleman in Hungary, Charles Leclerc led the first part of the race before a chassis problem dashed his hopes of victory. Fourth at the finish, the Monegasque made no secret of his frustration after and during the race.
A cruel end to the weekend for Leclerc. A surprise poleman on Saturday ahead of the two McLarens, Charles Leclerc unfortunately couldn’t convert this feat the next day. While he seemed to have mastered the situation during the first part of the race, the Monegasque then lost pace as the laps went by and only finished in fourth place, overtaken by Piastri and then Russell.
Frustrated by this sudden drop in performance, the Monegasque lashed out at his engineer Bryan Bozzi, explaining that the team had not made the right choices. “It’s incredibly frustrating. We lost all competitiveness,” said the Ferrari driver. “If they had just listened to me, I would have found another way to manage these issues. Now, it’s undrivable. It will be a miracle if we finish on the podium.” The frustration was visible as the Ferrari driver seemed so invested in this race.
Leclerc victim of a chassis problem…
However, after the race, the Monegasque revealed that the team had informed him of a chassis issue affecting the car from the 40th lap, a problem he was unaware of during the race that made him lose nearly two seconds per lap against his rivals, thereby dooming his chances of victory. Unfortunately, the issue was too significant, and he couldn’t hold off George Russell. Eventually finishing fourth after starting from pole position, the Monegasque did not hide his disappointment as victory seemed possible.
It’s extremely frustrating to fight for victory, to have the pace we had at the beginning of the race, and then lose everything. It’s very frustrating. I don’t know if there was a solution, but it’s the frustration talking. For now, I don’t know what to say; we’ll analyze what happened, but it’s ultra-frustrating. In the first stint, we controlled the pace in front, in the second we were catching up well with Lando [Norris], and after the 40th lap the problems started, then it got worse, I was two seconds off the pace so there was nothing to be done.
If Frédéric Vasseur, Ferrari’s director, confirms his statements, he believes that the significant loss of performance is not solely due to this chassis problem. The car was very difficult to drive for Charles, and we need to understand what happened. But when Charles spoke about it, he was referring to tenths of a second, details. That’s not what caused the drop in performance at the end.
… And sanctioned by the FIA for his defense against Russell
The nightmare for the Monegasque driver unfortunately did not end. The former Sauber driver received a five-second penalty on his race time for changing trajectory while braking when George Russell was trying to overtake him. A penalty accepted by Leclerc, who believes he gave it his all and may have gone beyond the limit. « It’s possible, I knew I was quite aggressive, I couldn’t do much, I gave it my all but I knew I was on the limit, so it doesn’t surprise me too much. »
Fourth at the finish, the former F2 champion in 2017 believes there is nothing positive to take away from this weekend despite his first pole position of the season. « I don’t take anything positive from a weekend when we finish like this, when we have a chance to win in the season we must seize it and that wasn’t the case. »
The native of Monaco thus begins the summer part very dissatisfied after missing a real opportunity for victory. A frustration that will need to be managed for the return of F1 to Zandvoort on August 31st.
