when Sebastian Vettel to allow Ferrari in 2020 he gave a helmet to charles leclerc where he wrote: “You are the most talented driver I have met in my 15 years in Formula 1. Don’t miss it, but make sure that whatever you do you will always be happy and smile. Thanks for everything.” Two years later, a season that began in a dream for the Monegasque ended in the worst possible way.
The Brazilian Grand Prix clarified the problems the Italian squad had which helped them lose both the drivers’ and constructors’ titles: strategy errors and misunderstandings in the pits. It was during qualifying on Friday although videos of radio communications between the 25-year-old driver and the pit lane have been released in the last few hours.
These are two moments: one experienced in Q1, when Leclerc spent eternal moments in the pits waiting for soft tyresand the other in the third quarter, when it was the only one of the 10 riders who was sent out on the track with intermediate rain tyres and not with the reds necessary to be the fastest and establish himself as the poleman of the season, after nine made.
That decision caused Leclerc will be last in the top ten and that Magnussen obtained an unexpected pole for both him and Haas, because in his first outing on the track he set a time of 1:11.674 which was enough to beat Verstappen before the red flag caused by George Russell. Despite this, the Englishman finished third as no one else took to the track due to the track’s rainy conditions and the risk of crashing.
A Friday to forget for Leclerc and Ferrari
The classification was far from that imagined by Leclerc from the beginning. In Q1, the fans wondered what was going on in the Ferrari garage Leclerc was stationary and without tyres.
“Let’s go with the soft new ones”said Xavi Marcos in his communication with Leclerc. “It’s drizzling. I don’t know how much longer… but yes, let’s do it”, replied the 25-year-old entering the pit lane. However, when it stopped it took almost two minutes to get back on track because the mechanics had put used reds on it.
“Used Softs! We like used Softs”the Monegasque began to shout, seeing the confusion of mechanicswho ran in search of the new red tires for which Leclerc had entered the pits.
The next episode occurred at the end of the session, when Ferrari were sure it was going to rain and sent their lead driver on intermediate rain tyres.
“Did everyone complete their dry lap?”he then asked, after setting the worst time on a track that is still very dry for that compound. After receiving an affirmative answer, he could not hide his disappointment: “fucking precious”.
Then, with the red flag declared and all drivers forced to pit, he got out of the #16 Ferrari and crossed the pitlane to discuss that bad decision with the engineers.
Shortly after, and more calmly, he said in his press statements: “We were expecting some rain that didn’t arrive. I’ll talk to the team and try to figure out what we can do better in those conditions, but i am extremely disappointedthe rhythm was there.”
He further explained: “I accepted the decision to go out with intermediates and then just waited for the rain, which never came“. And he was enthusiastic: “We still have the car, but now we have to go in and do everything right for the rest of the weekend.”
For its part, the team defended its position of placing intermediates. “It’s a bit frustrating. We had both cars in Q3 and we were faced with a tough decision. On the one hand, you have a still dry track and there’s a rule of thumb that says you have to go to that track while it’s dry ; on the other hand, on the other hand, we expected heavy rains. we have divided our strategies“.
“It is always known that, depending on the exact moment it rains, there will be a happy driver and an unhappy driver. This is exactly what happened. The rain was probably a minute or two too late for Charles, and the timing was right for Carlos, who was second on the track. That’s how it went and we have a fifth position and a tenth, but it’s the start of a long weekend,” he summed up Laurent Mekiesracing director of the Scuderia.
Source: Clarin
