Charles Leclerc explains the "I'm not driving this car anymore" team radio during F1 Azerbaijan GP FP2

Charles Leclerc recently talked about his outburst on the team radio during the second practice session at the 2024 F1 Azerbaijan GP. He explained that he was angry due to an issue with the car that was quickly resolved.

The first Friday practice session was not the smoothest for the Monegasque driver as he found the barriers due to an issue with the car. The Italian giants were quick to fix the car in time for FP2, but Leclerc once again struggled with the machine around Baku. 10 minutes into the session, Charles Leclerc had to take the escape route on Turn 15 to avoid a second crash.

After this incident, he said on the radio that he wouldn't be driving the car anymore and that he was pitting. He added that it was impossible for his team to not see the irregularities of the issue in the data they collected during practice.

“I’m not driving this car any more. I’m pitting. It’s impossible that you cannot see that on data!” Leclerc angrily said.

After both Friday practice sessions, Leclerc told F1.com that his outburst on the radio was because of a major issue in one of the car parts, which was quickly changed when he pitted.

"The thing is that when we started FP2 there was an actual problem on the car that we saw later on, once I stopped, and we changed that particular part," Leclerc said.

He praised the mechanics for their hard work to fix the car between FP1 and FP2 and claimed that the anger was not due to the crash, but with the steering wheel part that caused the issue.

“It was nothing to do with the crash before, so the mechanics have done a really good job. We just had a problem with one new part that we had just put on the car. I won’t go too much into details but that was obviously giving me a very strange feeling with the steering wheel," he added.

It is safe to assume that the issue was only because of a particular car part since Charles Leclerc went on to top the timing charts in FP2 after he went back out on track.

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Charles Leclerc wary of 'tight' top field ahead of the Azerbaijan GP qualifying

Charles Leclerc said that the top half of the grid is extremely close to each other at the moment while speaking about the upcoming qualifying session on Saturday. Speaking to F1.com he said that his rivals' varied car setups could make the qualifying and race unpredictable. He added that though Ferrari has been great around Baku, he does not have his hopes too high.

“It’s very tight [at the front], but it’s very difficult to see also with different engine modes of everybody. It’s one of the tracks that I quite like and we’ve been pretty quick in the past, but that doesn’t mean it will be the case for tomorrow,” Leclerc said.

As of now, Charles Leclerc is in third place in the drivers' championship with 217 points. He is chasing McLaren's Lando Norris in second place (241), and championship leader and defender, Red Bull's Max Verstappen (303).