Downcast Charles Leclerc explains late-race Ferrari Barcelona F1 failure
Originally published by Crash.net
Charles Leclerc retired from the Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix just four laps from the chequered flag after a battling drive to recover from a compromised starting position.
Leclerc has endured a torrid few weeks of F1 action with crashes across the Miami, Monaco, and Barcelona weekends, as team-mate Lewis Hamilton collected podiums and, this time out, a first victory in Ferrari colours.
Following a crash in Q3 on Saturday when pole position looked a realistic possibility, the Monegasque driver had recovered to sixth position when his power steering failed in the closing stages, forcing him out of the race.
Leclerc started 10th after crashing out in qualifying
“I had a BBW fail, and I had no power steering anymore, so Turn 2, I was in the corner and suddenly there was no power steering. Then that was the end of my race,” he reported.
Fourth in the championship on 75 points, Leclerc now trails Hamilton by 40, and given how Ferrari has historically operated with a clear number one and two driver arrangement when chasing a title, appears set to take up the lesser role – this just weeks after signing a bumper new contract with the Scuderia.
On a different strategy to Hamilton in Spain, Leclerc made no effort to battle his team-mate when the pit stop phase briefly positioned the Briton behind him.
“I don’t want to take any credit for today’s race,” Leclerc said. “I don’t think I had a role in it at all. I think Lewis and the team has done the job and eventually got the win all by themselves.
Leclerc had begun the weekend by showing strong pace
“Surely, I could have stayed ahead of Lewis for two or three corners, but that would have been very stupid from me anyway. And Lewis won with an incredible margin, 20 seconds. He’s been incredible in the last three weekends, he’s been really on it, and he deserves all of it.
“Now it’s up to me to up my game, to find this confidence with this car to put everything together.
“Hopefully, with clean weekends; it is true also that the last four weekends haven’t been very clean technically for me. We have had a lot of issues, so I’m just looking forward to having clean races, taking the rhythm again, and hopefully, fighting at the front as well.”