Charles Leclerc pushes the boundaries in “the spirit of racing” for Vasseur

Ferrari believes that both accidents involving Charles Leclerc during the Miami Grand Prix reflect his “mindset” as a driver chasing Red Bull, but insists that they won’t tell him to “calm down”. Leclerc crashed his car twice during the recent race weekend in Miami, once during the second free practice session and the other in Q3, resulting in the premature end of the session.

During the practice session, he hit the barriers head-on while trying to navigate through sector 1 at turns 6 and 7, but he collided with the rear of another car at turn 6 in the most significant accident of the qualifying session. In the race, the Monégasque driver could not achieve better than a seventh place because he found himself stuck in a DRS train at the beginning of the race.

Having a competitive spirit

Jock Clear, the lead performance engineer at Ferrari, believes that the accidents are due to Leclerc trying to push the car beyond its limits. In a way, this can reflect his mindset when faced with a car that is clearly faster than his own [like the Red Bull], he explains to the media. It’s a kind of “I will have to make the difference myself” mentality, and of course, physics eventually catches up with you.

The engineer assures that Ferrari will not ask its driver to calm down because « throughout the year, his qualifications have been exceptional, which puts him in a very good position for many races ». « I think he sensed the opportunity for a new pole position, to be honest, and maybe got a little carried away. »

The engineer in charge of performance was joined by his boss Frédéric Vasseur. He was a little stiff. He was a bit sore everywhere, and I think his pride was a little hurt as well, but honestly, I think he has been doing a great job for the past two or three races given our situation. We can’t blame him, I’d rather not have this kind of event happening in a team, but at least it’s done in the “spirit of the race” and we’ll see what he does today.

Improvements involved in his accident?

Clear also believes that the new improvements made to the Ferrari’s floor in Miami could have played a role in Leclerc’s second accident. Indeed, after the Ferrari SF-23 rode too much on the kerb, the rear end took the driver into the safety barriers.

The geometry of the diffuser has also been modified in order to control and manage the incoming airflow into the diffuser, thus creating more rear downforce. This provides the driver with a more consistent balance at medium speed, high speed, low speed, and of course, under braking, entering and exiting corners, describes Clear when describing the new update. Perhaps what happened in qualifying with Charles is proof of this, he really pushed hard in turns 4 to 6 at high speed.