Charles Leclerc slams ‘f**king joke’ qualifying rules after Suzuka frustration

Charles Leclerc let his frustration shine through after qualifying at Suzuka, in which he labelled the new regulations a “f**king joke”.

Leclerc qualified fourth for Sunday’s race in Japan, but was frustrated on team radio as he complained about the requirements of the new regulations.

Charles Leclerc criticises qualifying rules after Suzuka

Want more PlanetF1.com coverage? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list for news you can trust.

Having qualified in fourth place, the Monegasque driver took to the Ferrari team radio to voice his frustrations over how he felt qualifying had got away from him.

“I honestly cannot stand these new rules for qualifying… it’s a f**king joke!” he said.

“I go faster in corners, get on throttle earlier…

“For f**k’s sake, I’m losing everything on the straight!”

Leclerc’s comments refer to the new regulations, in which the drivers are required to manage energy harvesting and deployment as the electrical power output is split 50/50 with that of the internal combustion engine.

This means that pushing hard through corners is no longer as fruitful, as deployment of energy at the wrong moment – which isn’t entirely within the driver’s control – can then hamper a driver’s straight-line speed as energy ebbs away.

It’s led to qualifying becoming less about drivers pushing the limits of grip and physics, and more about the limitations of the energy available, and Leclerc opened up on how that’s affecting his approach to the sessions when he spoke to the media in a calmer state of mind after qualifying.

“It’s very frustrating because, coming into Q3… at least myself and how I approach qualifying since forever, you go into that last lap and you try things that are a little bit of whatever you’ve tried before,” he said.

“When you do that, the system needs to re-optimise everything while you are driving, basically. For some reason, whenever I get to Q3, I start losing time in the straights.

“So I make time in the corners, I lose time in the straight. This is very frustrating, because you never really put a lap together, because you’re always compromising one thing for another, and that’s a little bit frustrating, but it’s the way it is for everybody.

“I feel, for some reason, that we are a little bit more exposed to that compared to maybe the Mercedes engine, which is something that we need to look at.

“I also know that the FIA is obviously trying to understand what other things we can do to fix those issues going forward, because it’s still something that everybody has.

“But yeah, apart from that, I was actually very happy with my lap. I’ve had a moment in Turn 8, but actually, this doesn’t have any implications, engine power unit-wise, later on.”

With Suzuka traditionally one of the most challenging tracks for a driver, the more restrained nature of driving the new regulations requires appears to be less difficult for the drivers, but does Leclerc believe the challenge has been reduced?

“In Q3, that’s where you want to get out on the track and try things you’ve never tried before, taking risks that you’ve never taken before,” he said.

“That’s been rewarding for most of us in all our careers, and now this is not possible anymore.

“Every time you go a little bit over the limit, anytime you have a bit of a snap, this is costing energy on the power unit side, and then you pay the price more.

“So I feel like, at the moment, consistency is paying off more than being brave and going to take something that you’ve never tried before, which is a shame, and which makes qualifying a little bit less challenging, and this is something that we need to work on, but it’s a known issue.

“It’s not that, I think, the FIA or the teams are just accepting the situation as it is. There’s a lot of work behind the scenes, and I hope that we can find a solution.”

More on the Japanese Grand Prix

George Russell reveals Mercedes setup error forced ‘massive’ front wing change

Max Verstappen labels Red Bull ‘undrivable’ after Suzuka Q2 exit shock

Charles Leclerc: Qualifying ‘a lot worse’ without 8mJ reduction

In an attempt to combat the excessive levels of lift-and-coast and superclipping that dominated the conversations in Australia and China, the FIA lowered the maximum harvestable energy for Japan qualifying to 8mJ, down from 9mJ.

This means the drivers should, in theory, have been able to drive more naturally. For drivers such as Leclerc, historically proven to be one of F1’s most elite qualifiers, the inability to explore the limits is what is getting to him most.

“I feel like this will be quite arrogant to say like that,” he said when asked if the best drivers are being hampered.

“But surely, I think for everybody, going into Q3 is just not the nicest feeling, because we want to be at the limit of those cars.

“Whenever you play with those limits, not only do you pay the price of a small snap, but you also pay triple the price in the straights.

“This is very frustrating, because qualifying is all about us trying to find the limit and to play with the limits. At the moment, whenever you play with the limit, you get destroyed in the straights, so you’ve got to stay right underneath the limit, which is an art in itself.

“I mean, all the good drivers used to make the difference anyway, but I think it’s less rewarding for the drivers who like to really push it. Most of the time in Q3, that’s paying off, but not with these cars.”

Had the limit not been reduced from 9mJ, the drivers would have had to engage in more extreme harvesting measures in order to top the battery up for the straights, and Leclerc believes the reduction was a step in the right direction.

“I think it would have been a lot worse if they didn’t make anything happen,” he said.

“So I think it’s going in the right direction, whether another step is needed, or something else could make more of a difference is still to be seen.

“Anyway, I think in the gap from here to Miami, there will be a lot of brainstorming from not only the FIA, but also the teams for sending propositions of trying to make those rules better in qualifying.

“I honestly think that, in the race, it’s actually a pretty good car, and it doesn’t change much from last year’s car. Even though, in the battle, obviously the battery, etc, but this we know it’s clear – the driving style doesn’t change much. In qualifying, it’s just a bit frustrating at the moment.”

Want to be the first to know exclusive information from the F1 paddock? Join our broadcast channel on WhatsApp to get the scoop on the latest developments from our team of accredited journalists.

You can also subscribe to the PlanetF1 YouTube channel for exclusive features, hear from our paddock journalists with stories from the heart of Formula 1 and much more!

Read Next: What is the starting grid for the Japanese Grand Prix?