Charles Leclerc admits “I need to improve in mixed conditions” amid Austrian sprint performance. Charles admits "I need to improve in mixed conditions".

F1 Austria, Charles Leclerc subdued in the rain
A forgettable Saturday for Charles Leclerc. The Ferrari driver was on the brink of elimination in both Q1 and Q2 of the Red Bull Ring Sprint Shootout and incurred an impeding incident against Oscar Piastri, resulting in a three-grid position penalty. Starting from the middle of the pack, Charles Leclerc got entangled in battles and struggled to overtake Esteban Ocon, who proved difficult to pass, especially on a wet track. Charles Leclerc attempted a late gamble with slick tires but slipped down to 12th position in the SF-23, a car perhaps more focused on the Grand Prix setup, but one that the #16 driver couldn’t ignite.

Charles Leclerc’s words
In an interview with Sky Sport F1, Charles Leclerc took responsibility for today’s result, saying, “The difficulties were due to the track conditions and also myself. I’m not at the level I would like to be in these mixed conditions: I don’t have the feeling with the car, and I struggle a lot. There are no excuses, and I need to improve in this situation. Unfortunately, these scenarios are rare throughout a season, but now they have happened for three consecutive races. We need to improve, and we are working on it, but it seems like we are always on the wrong side. From that point on, the feeling with the car becomes complicated, you lose confidence, and the pace is not there.” – he pointed out.

“Now I look ahead and hope that tomorrow we can have a good Grand Prix. Hopefully, it will be a dry race because yesterday the pace was good. We hope to regain confidence to push, and we’ll see what is possible, but yesterday the feeling on dry conditions was good. I don’t think we will have the pace of Red Bull, but if there is an opportunity, I will try,” Charles Leclerc continued.

The impeding incident with Oscar Piastri
The Ferrari driver is now focused on the immediate future, with a race ahead where he aims to be a protagonist, considering that on pace and dry conditions, the SF-23 appeared to be inferior only to Max Verstappen’s car. However, it is crucial to also address what happened this morning, as this is the fourth impeding penalty the Ferrari team has received this season.

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Charles Leclerc stated: “We will discuss with the team what can be improved in terms of communication, as it didn’t arrive in time. We didn’t handle the situation in the best way.”

F1 pundit alarmed by Ferrari's 'odd' radio messages to Charles Leclerc in Canada : PlanetF1

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Comments: 6

Alex
3 years ago
You bet my friend.. champions are born and unfortunately you are not one of them!
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Ferrari loyalist
3 years ago
Alex that is grossly unfair on Charles. Granted everyone needs to get better ,Charles will learn no doubt about that.He is still young. I want to put things into context, which is really important here ,One of the all time greats and icons at ferrari Michael Schumacher achieved great success not only because of immense talents but remember he had a super talented team behind him, the likes of, Jean Todt, Ross Brawn, Rory Byrne ,etc. ,.Michael won his titles at ferrari at the age of 31 to 35. Michael would be the first to admit, he could not have achieved what he did, without those super talented individuals behind him. And i will quote -‘The team they forged, in harness with the clinical brilliance of Ross Brawn and Rory Byrne ,were a Ferrari the like of which we’d never seen’ end of quote.
Very eloquently put, I could not have stated it better myself.
Lets see what Charles can do with the right support base behind him and a great car.I BELIEVE IN CHARLES, all he needs is talented individuals like those mentioned above to succeed.
REMEMBER -A TALENTED TEAM WILL ALWAYS TRIUMPH,NOT A TEAM OF INDIVIDUALS. ASK IF YOU DON’T BELIEVE ME ,THE SUPER TALENTED Adrian NEWEY.
At the moment he is getting f..k around by the car, down and incompetent engineers and aerodynamicists and people, like Xavi who should not be on the pit wall because he is a liability of the highest order, an incompetent brainless f..k wit who does not deserve or warrant his inclusion on the pit wall.
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- Alex
  3 years ago
  Believe me I feel your pain and it is not easy for me as a Ferrari fan for 26 years to be saing these words. Help me out how to understand Charles actions and performance from a person contending for the F1 championship.
  Today we experienced the same different performance between Carlos and Charles like in the situation with RB between Max and Checo…
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Mark
3 years ago
I think Charles is desperate as Ferrari have failed him terribly so as a driver one can’t blame him for feeling insecure and probably frustrated. It’s easy for us to talk when sitting in a comfortable chair in front of a television. Fact is Ferrari have done very little to support their drivers as they (Ferrari) have been the laughing stock for years now with their incompetence in all areas.
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Ferrari loyalist
3 years ago
Alex , Mark (a brilliant summary by the way) took the words right out of my mouth. Mark sums up perfectly,exactly what my response would have been. Alex , Charles has been battling with a lemon of car but also the extreme incompetence of Xavi and others, look at all the penalties that Charles has had to deal with , when incompetent f..kers like Xavi i.e the tyre issue , 2 penalties for impeding other drivers ,let’s be blunt Xavi is guilty of abandonment of his job. He is there to look after Charles and has failed miserably in his role. Put simply Charles ,whether it be his car or pit wall incompetence has had the rough end of the stick compared to Carlos.
When you keep getting kicked in the guts by your own crew ,the car , you become frustrated,impatient,and that leads to mistakes, second guessing yourself.You get caught in a cycle of disillusionment,mental fatigue.
Ferrari’s primary and sole role is to support their drivers.They have ,as Mark stated brilliantly,failed comprehensively in their duty but in particular Charles has experienced the worst of it compared to Carlos.
Fred is attempting a rebuild. LONG OVER DUE. As far as expectations are concerned they need to be realistic and measured. To use a well worn cliché,It’s not going to happen overnight. It may take years to rebuild and get the right people in and unfortunately the long suffering for fans may continue for sometime yet. However from the ashes ,I am hoping Fred can get some talent in and build something special. From you,Mark the Tifosi and myself and all the other Ferrari fans ,thats what holds and binds us together.Blind faith, that our beloved Ferrari will one day rediscover its mojo.we live in hope.
If you asked me who, I would want in terms of drivers right now. Charles and Carlos hands down.
Max thinks he is gods gift. To Max there is only one person, Max and f..k everyone else including Sergio. Great attitude Max (if Max is reading this ,I am being sarcastic Max), that’s how you get friends ,shit on them,treat them like utter shit. Do you want that type of person in the team. Absolutely not,in my opinion,in fact f..k him. Ask any of the drivers in F1. Was is not George Russell who called Max a dickhead in Azerbaijan and Sergio constantly being treated as a nothing , a second class citizen ,by Max nearly every weekend.
If Max had to deal with what Charles has had to deal with every weekend and for years ( that needs to be pointed out here, not weeks or one race,we are talking years), I have no doubt he would be just as frustrated as Charles.
Charles and Carlos are young and the future for Ferrari. I love them both and they are much nicer people than ,I am better and more important than anyone else in the world Max. In terms of performance Max and Sergio have a real race car, Ferrari do not, as simple as that.
Collectively all we can do is pray for a miracle,that FERRARI GET THEIR SHIT TOGETHER AND QUICKLY.
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Ferrari loyalist
3 years ago
I am still demanding a uk base, as the brightest talent in F1 does not want to move to Italy. Fred, you must persuade ELKANN AND MR JAPANESE QUOTES SPECIALIST HIMSELF VIGNA that a uk 🇬🇧 base for FERRARI is a vitally important part of the puzzle to resurrect the fortunes of FERRARI. Fred might succeed without it but it will make it so much harder and take longer.
Elkann and Vigna – if you want to rebuild the ICON that is FERRARI build a state of the art factory in the uk. That is ,in my opinion an absolute necessity and critical to FERRARI getting back at redbull and to the dominance it once was.
If you do not allow Fred to have it ,in my personal opinion you are dumb stupid parasites not worthy of a position at FERRARI and an utter disgrace to ENZO’S LEGACY and the real reason for FERRARI’S lack of success for such a long time.
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