Scuderia Ferrari Monegasque driver Charles Leclerc is aware that the Maranello team can’t afford many more technical issues after retiring from the Spanish Grand Prix while in first place and with a solid advantage over Red Bull at the Circuit de Catalunya.
Charles Leclerc had a great start and was set to take an easy win in Barcelona until the Monegasque driver suffered a loss of power on his Ferrari on the 26th of 66 laps. There was no quick fix for the engine problem and Charles therefore had to return to the pits, which marked his first DNF of the 2022 Formula 1 season.
The Maranello team later confirmed that an undiagnosed power unit issue was indeed the cause of the unfortunate outcome in the Spanish Grand Prix. Charles Leclerc admitted there was no early sign or warning, as the power unit just suddenly gave up: “No, I don’t know anything more than what happened basically. I had no indications before and it just broke and I lost the power completely, so it’s a shame,” Charles Leclerc said for Sky Sports.
On a sweltering and windy Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, which had forced both teammate Carlos Sainz and title rival Max Verstappen into early mistakes at the same corner, Charles Leclerc was firmly in command and looked set to increase his championship lead ahead of the Monaco Grand Prix, until the moment everything was lost. After seeing Verstappen and Red Bull draw closer in Miami, Scuderia Ferrari introduced its first major upgrade package in Barcelona which helped Charles Leclerc take pole position on Saturday, unfortunately without being able to convert it into a crushing win.
Charles Leclerc admitted he wasn’t too concerned about the prospect of losing hold of the points lead after the Spanish Grand Prix, but at the same time he is aware that no other such moments should take place if Ferrari wants to continue the fight for the titles: “We will look at this issue and we cannot afford for this to happen many times during the season, so we need to find the problem. The lead of the championship will go down to basically nothing or maybe we will lose it actually but that’s fine. I’m not looking at it. I think what is the most important is your own performance and performance-wise we are performing very well so I can’t wait to go at home next week and hopefully we’ll have a great result [in Monaco].” – the Moneagsque driver added.
Maybe the only positive news from the Spanish Grand Prix for Charles Leclerc is the fact that the upgrades on the F1-75 car seem to work well and the Maranello team also improved the relatively poor tyre management which was visible in the last three races: “In those moments, I believe there’s nothing else I can do apart from looking at the positives and there are plenty this weekend. There’s the qualifying pace, the race pace and, most importantly, the tyre management. That has been a weakness in the last few races. I think we’ve definitely found something this weekend on that, so it gives me the confidence for the rest of the season.”
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