Leclerc loses his nerves … and his politeness after a failed stop and a (new) race – Formula 1

The contrast is striking and increasingly worrying for Ferrari. A year after winning the first grand prize of his career at Spa-Francorchamps, Charles Leclerc had a black weekend on the same Belgian circuit this weekend. Party in 13^e position, just ahead of his team-mate Sebastian Vettel after nightmarish qualifying for the Scuderia on Saturday, the Monegasque struggled throughout the race on Sunday at the wheel of a car much too slow to finish only 14th, one place ahead of the German.

And, as is often the case when the speed and the results are not there, the mechanics seize up in the garage too. During a pit stop under Safety Car, the team forgot to prepare the hard tires that their driver had to put on. Result: long lost seconds and a Leclerc who loses his nerves and who screams a “damn of his race!” at the pit exit. Warned that he had forgotten to turn off his radio, the person concerned briefly laughed at the time: “I was not very polite”. After the race, he also apologized for this moment of bewilderment: “And sorry for the radio team, maybe I should have turned off the radio after the pit stop. It was not done on purpose ”.

Belgian GP Tops / Flops: Renault shines, Ferrari dark

«Munfortunately, I think in Monza it will be the same or worse “

Charles Leclerc

If the episode may give rise to a smile, it above all reflects the frustration of a young driver who hoped to be able to continue the momentum of his excellent first season at Ferrari last year (4th place, 2 wins, 10 podiums). An impossible mission behind the wheel of a malborn SF1000 and that the Scuderia struggles to improve. “It’s really not great at all. I don’t have the words, quite frankly. After a race like this, it’s not easy. We are going to have to find something and react because it cannot continue like this ”, breathed Leclerc at the microphone of Canal + Sunday.

Winner at Monza last year in an atmosphere of madness – “my best memory of the 2019 season”, he confided to Figaro at the start of the year – the Monegasque necessarily expects a much more difficult race at home next Sunday. “Unfortunately, I think Monza will be the same or worse, and that’s not a good sign,” he predicts. But hey, I hope that from Mugello (September 13) we can see the light of day a little again and that it will be better for us. ” A rebound would indeed be welcome to avoid humiliation on the occasion of the 1000^e grand prize in Ferrari history. But does the Scuderia only have the means?