3 times Charles Leclerc lost his cool mid-race against Ferrari, ft. 2025 Hungarian GP

Ferrari drivers Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton have been trigger-happy with the team radio button this season as the duo continues to struggle with the SF25’s balance and the strategic decisions made by the Scuderia. The same has led to furious radio messages between the team and the drivers.

Hamilton’s radio message to Ferrari at the 2025 Miami GP, when he asked for team orders to get past Leclerc as he was faster, led to a furious exchange. The exchange ended with the Briton suggesting, “Take a tea break,” while they continued to delay the decision.

Leclerc has also had his fair share of radio quarrels, including the 2025 Canadian GP, where he initially wanted to go for a one-stop strategy but was instructed by Ferrari to pit, which ultimately converted it into a two-stopper. The Monegasque most recently lost his cool at the Hungarian GP.

Let's have a look at 3 incidents when Charles Leclerc slammed the Italian stable mid-race.

---

Three mid-race instances of Ferrari's Charles Leclerc losing his cool

#1 2025 Hungarian GP

Charles Leclerc started the race in the pole position and maintained the lead into Turn 1. The Monegasque led the race throughout the first stint, but then opted for a two-stop while Lando Norris went for a one stopper. The Ferrari driver soon started cryptically complaining to his team, possibly about how the car was behaving (i.e., the balance).

Charles Leclerc at the F1 Grand Prix Of Hungary | Getty Images

Leclerc's first couple of messages in a somewhat frustrated tone were:

"I can feel what we discussed before the race. We need to discuss those things, before doing those.

We are going to lose this race with these things. We are losing so much time.”

After Oscar Piastri passed Leclerc and George Russell chased him down for the final spot on the podium, he said:

“This is so incredibly frustrating. We lost all competitiveness. You just have to listen to me. I would have found a different way of managing those issues. Now it's just undriveable, undriveable. It's a miracle if you finish on the podium.”

After the race, Charles Leclerc revealed that it was an issue with the chassis, and not something that he thought it was.

---

#2 2024 Las Vegas GP

Charles Leclerc started the 2024 Las Vegas GP in P4 and soon made up a couple of positions to second. However, the degradation of his tires was bad, and he was shortly overtaken. Just before the second pitstop for Carlos Sainz, Ferrari asked the Spaniard to let Leclerc pass amid the threat from Lewis Hamilton behind them.

Sainz let Leclerc by only a lap later. As he made his stop a few laps later, he was informed by the team that Sainz had been instructed not to attack him, yet the Spaniard went on to pass the #16 driver on that very lap. Leclerc came into the radio after the race and said:

“Yes, whatever you want, as always. Yeah, I did my job, but being nice fu*** me over all the f*****g time. It’s not even being nice, it’s just being respectful. I know I need to shut up, but at one point it’s always the same.”

---

#3 2022 Monaco GP

Charles Leclerc took the pole position for the 2022 Monaco GP, his home race. Before the 2022 race, he had never finished his home race. Starting in pole position, he was in the prime position to take the win as track position is the king at Monaco.

Charles Leclerc at the F1 Grand Prix of Brazil | Getty Images

However, that was before Ferrari messed up the strategy. The Scuderia asked Leclerc to pit on the same lap as Carlos Sainz and double stack, but at the last moment, when the #16 driver had already made his way into the pits, it asked Leclerc to “Stay out.” It led to a furious team response for the Ferrari driver, who came on the radio and said:

“Fu**, fu**. Why? What, what are you doing?”

Leclerc lost the lead of the race as he lost time due to the pitstop, and it was well before the optimal transition lap to pit on the slick tires.