Charles Leclerc reveals BIZARRE Ferrari weakness amid 'extremely difficult' jibe

Leclerc, Ferrari, France, 2022 — Photo: © LAT Images

Charles Leclerc

Leclerc reveals BIZARRE Ferrari weakness amid 'extremely difficult' jibe

Charles Leclerc has opened up on his struggles in a Ferrari this season

Matthew Hobkinson Lead Editor

F1 Editor & Journalist

Monday 17 July 2023 16:42

Charles Leclerc has revealed that Ferrari struggled at the British Grand Prix due to Silverstone's high-speed corners, before admitting that the SF-23 runs into problems during windy conditions on track.

Having qualified for the race in fourth, Leclerc endured a weekend to forget as he tumbled down the order to finish in ninth as the chequered flag waved.

Team-mate Carlos Sainz would cross the line behind him in 10th, with many left scratching their heads at how Ferrari dropped off the pace so drastically.

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Yet for Leclerc, the reason was clear, as he opened up on the team's problems after the British Grand Prix last weekend.

Leclerc: Ferrari pace hard to swallow

Charles Leclerc had a race to forget at the British Grand Prix

"The lack of speed is hard to digest," he told Dutch media. "It looks like bad luck. Let's say the timing of the safety car was not good for us, while it was favourable for many other drivers.

"But in the end, we just didn't have any speed. It's not that we had more tyre wear, but Mercedes and McLaren were stronger than us. I tried to push on the hard tyre after the safety car, but it wasn't to be."

Pushed on whether tyre degradation played its part, Leclerc revealed that the nature of Silverstone's high-speed corners meant that Ferrari had bookmarked the British Grand Prix as one of the most challenging circuits on the calendar.

Silverstone one of our worst tracks

Leclerc and Sainz could only manage ninth and 10th respectively at Silverstone

"This is very hard to understand," he added. "We knew that this was going to be one of our worst tracks just because of the high-speed corners. This is one of the weaknesses of the car.

"It was a positive surprise that we were so close yesterday. Not in terms of time, because I didn't drive a great lap in P3, but we were very close to Red Bull, probably because of the timing.

"In the race we were struggling, especially in the fast corners. We know what the problem is and we are working hard to develop the car further and to improve that. Hopefully that will get better."

"There is still a long way to go, because right now we are sensitive to changes in conditions that you don't see keen. By that I mean especially the wind. If it changes direction or speed, our car has an extremely difficult time."