Ferrari F1 star's fury sparks major U-turn at Hungarian Grand Prix

Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc — Photo: © IMAGO

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Ferrari F1 star's fury sparks major U-turn

Charles Leclerc dropped from pole position to P4 at the Hungaroring last weekend

Kevin McKenna

Thursday 7 August 2025 20:57

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Ferrari star Charles Leclerc performed a surprise U-turn after airing his frustrations during last weekend's F1 Hungarian Grand Prix.

The Monegasque provided one of the biggest shocks of the season at the Hungaroring by putting his car on pole with a blistering final lap on Saturday.

But that proved to be as good as it would get for Leclerc, who finished down in fourth on Sunday afternoon.

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The 27-year-old was evidently furious throughout the race, with the team bearing the brunt of his anger over team radio.

"I can feel what we discussed before the race," he said. "We need to discuss those things before doing them.

"We are going to lose this race with these things. We are losing so much time."

Later, he added: "This is so incredibly frustrating. We've lost all competitiveness.

"You just have to listen to me, I would have found a different way of managing those issues.

"Now it's just undriveable. Undriveable. It's a miracle if we finish on the podium."

Charles Leclerc finished fourth in Hungary having started the day in pole position

Leclerc backtracks on Ferrari criticism

But speaking after the chequered flag, Leclerc admitted his comments were made without having full knowledge of a major issue which had been hampering his performance.

“First of all, I need to take back the words I've said in the radio because I thought that it was coming from one thing, but then I got a lot more detail since I got out of the car," Leclerc told media.

"It was actually an issue coming from the chassis and nothing that we could have done differently.

"I started to feel the issue in Lap 40 or something like that, and then it got worse, laps after laps after laps, and towards the end we were two seconds off the pace, and the car was just undriveable."

The result capped a disappointing first stint of the campaign ahead of the summer break, with Leclerc failing to secure a race victory.

He currently occupies fifth spot in the championship standings, one place ahead of team-mate Lewis Hamilton, who endured a shocking few days on the outskirts of Budapest.

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