Charles Leclerc’s unusual ‘fault’ highlighted by Ferrari boss after fresh show of frustration

Ferrari boss Fred Vasseur said that Charles Leclerc can be guilty of “blaming himself a bit too much” with the Monegasque again critical following quali at Silverstone.

Leclerc, alongside Lando Norris, is one of the most self-critical drivers on the grid and after an expletive-laden outburst in Britain, Vasseur suggested they are trying to make him be easier on himself.

Fred Vasseur reflects on Charles Leclerc’s self-critical ‘fault’

Additional reporting by Thomas Maher

“F–k, f–k, f–k, f–k, f–k that. So f–king shit I am. I am so f–king sh*t. That’s all I am,” was how Leclerc responded over the team radio after he qualified sixth at Silverstone and it is exactly this kind of self-criticism that Vasseur said Ferrari are trying to work through.

“For probably 10 years, one of the qualities of Charles is that he’s able to blame himself,” Vasseur told media, including PlanetF1.com. “One of the faults of Charles is sometimes he’s blaming himself a bit too much.

“As a team, I appreciate a lot the fact that the driver can say ‘okay, my mistake’ this is positive, because it’s not bringing the team in the wrong direction and they are human. It’s good to have the drivers able to say this.”

Vasseur went on to state that Ferrari were expecting a worse result in quali compared to the race due to the setup of the car.

The Frenchman also recalled a conversation he had with Leclerc two years ago where he told the driver to focus more on Sunday.

“We did a real step forward in terms of race pace, perhaps also with the setup of the car and it’s probably going to be more difficult for the quali.

“But I remember perfectly that two years ago we were telling Charles that we are scoring points on Sunday. Let’s be more focused on Sunday. Let’s be more focused on the setup on Sunday, because it’s Sunday that we are scoring points.

“In ’23 we did a five or six pole positions and zero wins for Charles, and we are pushing him into this direction.”

Leclerc’s frustration was not limited to inside the cockpit either as his self-criticism continued into the mixed zone.

“More than getting away from me, I’m not doing the job,” Leclerc reflected.

“And I think since the beginning of the season, I’ve been performing very well in the races. And looking back at races, there are actually not many races where I would go back to change something that I’ve done inside the car.

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“Unfortunately, when I look back at qualifying, which used to be my strength, there are many qualifying where I would like to go back and to change something, because every time I get to Q3, for some reason, it’s not clicking.

“At the moment, we’ve had good qualifying, but we didn’t have great qualifying. And again, this used to be my strength, so I’m not happy with the level that I’m showing in qualifying.

“We’ve got issues, for sure, particularly today, from Q2 onwards, we been fighting with something inside the car. But it’s not an excuse. I need to be better.”

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