F1 News: Charles Leclerc Demands Answers After Poor Spanish GP Pace - "Stressed"
It was a day filled with disheartenment for Charles Leclerc at the Spanish Grand Prix. The driver, despite a promising start, ended up just outside the coveted points in P11 on the Sunday, unable to overtake Alpine's Pierre Gasly in the race's final lap. This came after starting from the pitlane after an awful qualifying session. Now, he's explained what happened during the race that gave him this disappointing result while demanding answers on what went wrong with the car.
Leclerc found himself grappling with tyre temperatures once again as he struggled with the unreliable SF-23. He shared his struggles during the post-race press conference, stating:
“Well, temperature came, but also the graining came more than the temperature, so it was just endless teary-eyed crazy
“I think where we really need to put all our focus is to try and be more often at the peak of our tyres and know how to manage them better.
"Two or three degrees makes a huge difference on balance, and this weekend we've been struggling getting completely outside the window or in the window and be happy with the car, so there will be a lot of work on that.”
This year's Ferrari seems to be a handful for Leclerc, who lost confidence in the team after last year's poor strategic decisions and reliability issues. And while his teammate Carlos Sainz finished P5 - after a P2 start - he is looking for answers from his Scuderia team.
“Obviously, they just had time to dismount all the rear parts of the car and change it for today, then they will analyse what went wrong. The feeling was very different today, but we are stressed.”
It's highly likely that there is an issue with Leclerc's car, but once again, questionable decisions made by Ferrari last night have kept them from being fully revealed. Hopefully, we hear more as we enter next week, but for now, the Monegasque will be wanting to put this weekend behind him.