Charles Leclerc insists his confidence in Ferrari has not been impacted despite a poor run of results.
The Monegasque was flying high in the championship after a dominant win in Australia back in April. Four months on, however, that remains his most recent victory, while Leclerc has also not stood on the podium since Miami.
Since then, Charles has had two mechanical retirements, another race compromised by those issues with an engine penalty in Canada and two more ruined by Ferrari strategy calls.
The most recent mistake came at Silverstone, where the decision not to pit Leclerc under a Safety Car left him a sitting duck to those behind in the closing laps, and a strong chance of victory instead became a P4 finish.
— ESPN F1 (@ESPNF1) July 3, 2022
Later, in Parc Ferme, team boss Mattia Binotto was seen consoling his driver while also wagging his finger, perhaps gesturing to the 24-year-old that he picks his words carefully to the media following the frustration he had vented over the radio during and after the race.
And Charles was largely diplomatic with his comments.
“Obviously with the Safety Car at the end, we decided to leave the lead car out and to pit the other car, which was myself and Carlos [Sainz], and it didn’t pay off for me, so it’s a big disappointment,” he said.
“On the other hand, it’s great for Carlos [his first F1 win], it’s a dream come true for him I’m sure, but I cannot hide my disappointment too on my own race. It’s disappointing.”
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Binotto later explained the logic behind Ferrari’s decision not to pit both cars behind the Safety Car.
“We believed and were pretty sure that we didn’t have enough space between the two cars to do a double stack,” he told the media.
“So, we had to make a choice between the first and second car.
“We decided to stop Carlos because Charles had the track position and was still leading.
“You don’t know what the others would have done if we stopped as the leader. So, for us, it was clear not to stop Charles and stop Carlos.
“Then we were hoping for more tyre deg on the soft and that did not happen.”
It hurts again. But I’ll never give up. pic.twitter.com/JvTjR09Lm9
— Charles Leclerc (@Charles_Leclerc) June 12, 2022
Given how it has been team issues that have compromised his championship chances, Leclerc, who could have gained 19 points on leader Max Verstappen but instead only closed by six at Silverstone, was asked if his confidence in Ferrari was wavering.
“No,” was his simple response.
“It’s not good,” he added to The Race referring to his various setbacks, “but I have to say that I feel like I’m showing that every race it’s not affecting me too much.
“I would rather not have these problems. It’s costing a lot of points,” Leclerc conceded.
“I don’t know… it [Silverstone] is another race where we don’t get the result. I did everything I could, I think you saw while I was defending as well. There wasn’t much more.”
