Leclerc seeks Ferrari answers after latest blunder

Ewan Gale
Friday 11 November 2022 23:00

Charles Leclerc will seek answers from Ferrari after the latest tactical blunder from the team left the Monégasque 10th on the grid for the São Paulo Grand Prix sprint.

Changeable conditions left drivers and teams second-guessing the weather throughout qualifying, with intermediates the tyre of choice for the opening half of Q1.

But with the track drying and teams switching to soft rubber, Ferrari almost fumbled its way out of the first session when indecisive in the pit lane with four minutes to go.

After reaching Q3, Leclerc queued up at the end of the pit lane on inters with all other drivers on softs as imminent rain moved towards the Interlagos circuit, only for his rivals to complete a vital lap on the softs.

When Leclerc finally pitted for the red-strip rubber, his first attempt at a hot lap was undone by George Russell crashing out of the session to trigger red flags before the promised rain did fall, preventing the Monégasque from setting a representative time.

After asking if everyone had completed their lap on slicks upon his return to the pits, and being given the response they had, Leclerc said over team radio: "Nice, beautiful. F**king beautiful."

Reflecting on the session afterward, Leclerc said: "We were expecting some rain which never came.

"I will speak with the team to try and understand what we can do better in those conditions.

"Extremely disappointed, the pace was there but whatever.

"I accepted the decision to go on inters but then the rain never came."

Looking ahead to the remaining two days in Brazil, Leclerc added: "We still have the car but now we need to get on it and obviously do everything good for the rest of the weekend."