"I always cheer my friends up with a good finger wag" - Former world champion jokes about Charles Leclerc being told off by Ferrari boss after 2022 F1 British GP

Charles Leclerc's frustration after finishing in P4 at the 2022 F1 British GP had former F1 driver-turned-television pundit Jenson Button cracking jokes at the Monegasque's expense.

Leclerc seemed to have the win at Silverstone in his sights when he got the green light to swap places with pole sitter Carlos Sainz before inheriting the lead after Lewis Hamilton made his second pit stop of the race.

A Safety Car following Esteban Ocon's loss of power in front of the old pit-straight, however, threw a spanner into the works for the Monegasque. With a limited window of opportunity to react, Ferrari chose to leave Leclerc out on his older hard tires while Sainz came in for fresh soft tires.

Sainz was not alone. Mercedes' Hamilton and Red Bull driver Sergio Perez also took the chance to switch to the red-walled rubber for the restart.

The 24-year-old was far from pleased with the strategy call and despite putting up a valiant fight, slid from P1 to P4, narrowly missing out on a podium place in the process.

Once in parc fermé, the broadcast cameras caught Leclerc in conversation with Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto and the pair's body language seemed far from convivial.

When asked to elaborate on it, Charles Leclerc said:

“I had the old hard tyres and obviously everybody around was on soft so I was struggling massively. At the end I gave my absolute best but it wasn’t enough and it’s obviously disappointing. He [Binotto] wanted to cheer me up and that’s it. We’ll have to look at the global picture. I only have my picture of my race and in the car sometimes you don’t have the full picture. On my side, I feel like I’ve lost a little bit too much time in the first stint and especially in the first part of the second stint, but this is only my view and it might change once I see the full picture.”

Button did not buy this explanation. Speaking to Sky Sports F1 after the podium festivities, the 2009 F1 World Champion said:

“I always cheer my friends up with a good finger wag. It’s a tough race for him. He broke his wing on the first lap of the race in turn four with Checo, but he had good pace still. He was pushing his team-mate round and in the end they swapped them over, gave him the lead, but the bad pitstop call at the end there with the Safety Car. It’s happened again, there’s the same thing in Monaco. So it’s tricky. I don’t know whose decision it was but obviously that cost him the victory.”

Charles Leclerc faced a similar situation earlier when a botched strategy call cost him a probable win at home during the 2022 F1 Monaco GP.

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"If you’ve got a driver versus Ferrari, Ferrari will always win" - Charles Leclerc advised to curb his criticism by former F1 champion

Earlier, Charles Leclerc was advised to be cautious in the way he criticized Ferrari after missing out on victory at the 2022 F1 Monaco GP, according to Damon Hill.

Hill, who won the 1996 F1 World Championship with Williams, made the comments after Leclerc chastized the Scuderia for shoddy strategizing in a race where he took pole for the second season running.

With all drivers being compelled to start the race on wet weather tires behind the Safety Car, the decision to come in for dry rubber during the crossover became all the more important for all teams in the Principality.

Leclerc was asked to come in to change his tires in a double stack move behind teammate Carlos Sainz at a time when Ferrari was ill-equipped to serve him. This erroneous call cost the Monegasque vital seconds, dropping him from P1 to P4, a position from which the 24-year-old was unable to recover.

After the checkered flag fell, Charles Leclerc was irate on the team radio and later on in the Ferrari motor home. Hill shared his thoughts on the entire incident on Sky Sports F1, saying:

“I think they are big enough and Ferrari understands. But you can only criticise your team so many times before there becomes a PR problem for the team.”

Ferrari is not known to take internal criticism from drivers well and this mentality still persists in Maranello, according to Hill, who went on to add, saying:

“Ferrari are not the people who will give way here. If you’ve got a driver versus Ferrari, Ferrari will always win. So, technically or diplomatically, you have to watch it a bit.”

Heading into the 2022 F1 Austrian GP, Charles Leclerc is in P3 in the World Drivers' Championship standings with 138 points.