"It still confirms the weakness of our car": Charles Leclerc explains why his pace dropped off on the hard tire in Mexico

Charles Leclerc believes Ferrari's weakness in terms of performance cost them pace during the 2023 Mexican GP. Speaking in the post-race press conference, the Monegasque explained to Sportskeeda that their car lacked pace on the hard tire during the race.

While the Ferrari driver claimed pole for the 2023 Mexican GP, the team's pace only seemed competitive enough on the medium tire. Once Charles Leclerc switched to the hard tire, he was unable to challenge Lewis Hamilton or Max Verstappen for the win.

Both the Red Bull and Mercedes were able to pull out a decent gap on the Ferrari as he nursed the car back in third place. Although other drivers also dropped in pace on the hard tire due to the red flag, the 25-year-old’s performance deficit was for different reasons.

Asked by Sportskeeda if the pace on the hard tires dropped due to the red flag, Charles Leclerc said:

“No, I think it still confirms the weaknesses of our car, where it's a very peaky car. And whenever we get out of the optimal window of the car, we are losing too much time. And that's exactly what happened on the Hard. At first, I thought I could do quite a good job once we stopped.

"But then there was a red flag, the tyres cooled down, we went back out and the feeling was just not the same and I couldn't find the feeling again with the tyres. So it's a bit of a shame because before that it was really good, especially on the Medium.

"But we'll look into it, again, on the Hard to try and understand what went wrong there, in order to improve that in the future. But I think short term, there's no big fixes. I think every time we are, as I said, a bit out of the optimal window, we lose too much time.”

Trying to understand the performance deficit on the hard tire, Charles Leclerc explained that whenever their car is outside the optimal performance window, they tend to lose lap time. The Monegasque driver felt that after the red flag, he was unable to work the tires back into the optimal window, which he believes is one of the weaknesses of their car.

His teammate Carlos Sainz was unable to get any quicker after the hard tire and finished in fourth place. Both drivers had a front-row start on the grid but were unable to match that result.

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Charles Leclerc uncertain if front wing damage cost him pace during the Mexican GP

Charles Leclerc's car had a broken wing and suffered minor damage after clashing with Sergio Perez on the opening lap of the race. The Ferrari driver clashed with the Mexican as he tried to pass on the outside. After making contact, the Red Bull driver spun into the grass with damage on the sidepod of his car causing an immediate retirement.

While the front wing was changed during the red flag, the Monegasque felt there could have been other minor damage that compromised the car's performance during the race.

Asked to explain the Turn 1 incident with Perez at the Mexican GP, Charles Leclerc said:

“Oh, well, I mean, we broke part of the front wing into Turn 1, and then on the radio, they told me that we were lacking, I think, 10 or 15 points. But to be honest, I managed to drive around it and it didn't feel too bad.

"So that was positive. Of course, it's never ideal to lose so many downforce points into Turn 1, but it's like this, and then we managed to do a good race from that moment onwards. But of course, it compromised a little bit our race.”

Asked if the front wing affected the car's performance during the race, Charles Leclerc said:

“I'm pretty sure the car was better with a full front wing than before when we had half. On the other end, I don't know if the car is completely fine. I think also we have to check it tonight because obviously when I saw Checo with his rear wheel touching my front wheel, I was like, okay, that's done for me.

"And then I did two, three corners and it didn't feel too bad. Obviously, not all great but not too bad and I could finish the race. So yeah, after the red flag, we could fix the front wing, but it might be that we find also some other small things that weren't in the right place."

Charles Leclerc has a total of 166 points and sits in seventh place in the Driver's Championship. After several unfortunate races, the Ferrari driver has fallen 17 points behind his teammate, Carlos Sainz, who is currently fourth in the standings alongside fellow Spaniard Fernando Alonso.

On the other hand, the Maranello team are third in the Constructors' Championship, sitting 22 points behind second-placed Mercedes with three races left on the calendar.