F1 News: Charles Leclerc Down And Out After First Half Of Season - "It Didn't Go Well"

The Monegasque isn't happy with how the first half of the season has gone for him and his team.

Charles Leclerc, the prodigious Ferrari driver who has struggled as of late, recently opened up about the ongoing season's challenges, candidly stating that the Scuderia's performance is a far cry from what they had aimed for. There are unresolved issues that the team needs to address and understand, a process that's still ongoing.

The Monegasque racing driver took home his third podium of the season after successes at both Baku and Spielberg, and can undoubtedly admit that he's a whizz that sprint weekends. But with him and the team now heading into the Summer break, he's announced that he's not happy with how the year is shaping up for him. 

Currently holding P5 in the Driver Standings with 99 points to his name, he's far from the first place that Max Verstappen is seeing once again this year. Ferrari itself is in P4 behind the likes of Red Bull, Mercedes, and Aston Martin. But this isn't good enough for the team which has held legendary status within the sport for so many years, especially after a P2 finish in 2022.

Leclerc imagines the next half of the season will be difficult for the team as they struggle to catch up to their targets. 

"It didn't go well," he said in reflection of the first half of the season. "Before the first race, the target was to do a step better, compared to last year, which was to win the world championship.

"If we look at the first half of the year, we are very far from where we put our expectations before the season. So, on the other hand, as soon as we understood that, we reset it and there was an incredible reaction from the team.

"They brought upgrades, sometimes a month and a half earlier, and this requires a lot of effort from everybody at Maranello. And this, we saw that, it helped us have great results."

Still, the challenge is far from over. Leclerc's concern is that Ferrari hasn't fully grasped the reasons behind their current lack of performance. He admits more research and investigation are needed.

He added: 

"I think we still need to try to understand – because if I do a step back in the last two races, I think we expected to be much more competitive in Budapest than on a track like here and at the end, it’s the opposite.

"So, these are things that we need to look at because maybe we haven’t optimised the package in races like Budapest and maybe we’ve done something that was surprisingly good on a track like here."