Charles Leclerc rules out Ferrari upgrades after underwhelming Spanish GP result

Charles Leclerc ruled out the possibility of Ferrari bringing any upgrades to the Austrian or British GP. Speaking to onsite media after the Spanish GP, the Monegasque reckoned that their performance issues are track-specific.

At the Spanish GP weekend, Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz were not able to perform better than fifth and sixth place in both qualifying and the race. Most of their performance issues were track characteristics coupled with their tire strategy. Sainz suggested that the long combine in the track layout is where Ferrari struggled the most.

Ferrari did bring upgrades to the Spanish GP, which included a new rear wing, engine cover, floor fences, floor body, floor edges, diffuser, and halo. Despite the upgrades, the Scarlet squad lacked the pace around the Circuit de Catalunya compared to their rivals.

Charles Leclerc suggested that from Austria onwards, their car should suit the track better but ruled out the possibility of bringing more upgrades to the next two races in the triple header.

Hoping Ferrari is better in Austria, Charles Leclerc revealed that the team did have a better understanding of why their performance was underwhelming in Canada. He reckons that the upgrades can be focused on a single issue of improving the car for tracks with certain characteristics.

Asked if there were any upgrades scheduled for Austria or Silverstone or the remaining races before summer break, Charles Leclerc said:

“Not of what I know, so I guess not. I don't know, I know everybody's working flat out and whatever is planned in 10 races will come earlier because everybody's pushing flat out when exactly I don’t."

Asked if there was any understanding of the performance deficit in Spain, Charles Leclerc said:

“I think in Canada it was quite clear and I think we are going to get better in those conditions the next time we are in those conditions because we understood something. However here it's still a bit too early on to say. My best guess will be track characteristics that suit our car and that's my best guess. But also what I hope for just to be back on pace from Austria onwards.”

Asked if it was a concern that they could have issues at every track with similar characteristics to Spain, Charles Leclerc replied:

“Yeah, I mean, everything is, every issue is something that we need to tackle as quickly as possible, but in F1 it doesn't take that quick to fix those issues. So of course we've seen, I think, the first difficult race of the season was Shanghai, where we saw some things, here we see it again and we've got to focus on that but before putting those upgrades on one specific issue.”

“We’ve got to have a bit of time and unfortunately in a race, even if the season is 24 races long. It's still, we still need to be back as quick as possible. Because these are very valuable points that we are losing against our contestants.”

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Charles Leclerc feels Carlos Sainz's move on him in the Spanish GP was unnecessary

Charles Leclerc was surprised by Carlos Sainz's move in the Spanish GP, where he tried to pass him aggressively. Understanding the enthusiasm to perform at the home race and the career situation, the Monegasque driver felt the move was unnecessary.

He stated that the team strategy was clear to both, where they planned to save their tires and attack later in the race. The 25-year-old claimed the duel between the two led to front wing damage and compromised both his tire life and race.

Asked if he was surprised with Sainz's move on him during the race, Charles Leclerc said:

“Yeah, I mean we had a clear strategy at the beginning of the race with both to save tyres to attack later on. Carlos at that lap, did not do any saving in turn 14 and of course had an opportunity to overtake me in Turn 1, which is a bit of a shame because we lost time between us. I damaged my front wing because of Carlos making that making the turn, and not seeing I was on the inside and that made our race more difficult.”

“I didn't understand the point of doing that when it was clearly stated before the race that we had to save in this part of the race. It's a bit unnecessary. But I also understand that it's his home race and it's also an important moment of his career so I guess he wanted to do something a bit spectacular. But I probably wasn't the right person to do that with.”

Charles Leclerc slipped down to third place in the driver's championship and got eclipsed by Lando Norris. Although the margin between him and the McLaren driver is narrow, Max Verstappen was able to extend his lead. Ferrari is under pressure to improve the performance of their car to defend second place from McLaren and challenge Red Bull for the constructors’ title.