Charles Leclerc teases sobering Ferrari reality after Hungarian GP win slips away
Charles Leclerc took back his criticism of the team over the radio.
Ferrari’s one opportunity to win a grand prix slipped through Charles Leclerc’s grasp on Sunday, adding to his frustration as he went from leading in Hungary to finishing off the podium.
Leclerc claimed a shock pole position at the Hungaroring where he pipped Oscar Piastri by 0.026s to claim Ferrari’s first pole position for a grand prix this season.
Charles Leclerc: That’s what makes the frustration even bigger
Additional reporting by Thomas Maher
The Monegasque driver made a good start off the line and stayed ahead of Piastri into Turn 1, and continued to lead until the first round of pit stops Leclerc pitted after Piastri but still came out ahead of the Australian driver.
Both of them, though, were behind Lando Norris, who opted for a one-stop strategy.
Leclerc was still in the hunt for the victory, eating into Norris’ lead before the Briton pitted and dropped back. But with Leclerc and Piastri having to pit again, Norris was back in the lead.
And then it all went horribly wrong for Leclerc.
Suspected changes to his SF-25’s tyre pressure cost him grip and lap time, with Leclerc launching a furious tirade towards the team over the radio.
“This is so incredibly frustrating,” Leclerc vented. “We’ve lost all competitiveness. You just have to listen to me. I would have found a different way of managing those issues.
“Now it’s just undriveable. Undriveable. It’s a miracle if we finish on the podium.”
Leclerc didn’t receive his miracle, falling to fourth at the chequered flag where he was 37s down on race winner Norris on the track, 42s behind after incurring a five-second penalty for his antics in defending third place against George Russell.
The victory marked McLaren’s seventh 1-2 result of the championship while Leclerc was left to lament Ferrari losing its “one” opportunity to win a grand prix this season.
More the Charles Leclerc’s Hungarian Grand Prix
👉 Uncovered: How Ferrari’s ride-height problems cost Leclerc the Hungarian GP win
👉 Hungarian GP awards: Wins for ‘useless’ Hamilton and invisible Max Verstappen
Asked if Ferrari had the car to challenge McLaren after the summer break, Leclerc told the media, including PlanetF1.com, in Hungary: “I’m not sure. I don’t think so.
“I think they are the strongest team out there, and even today, they were very, very fast.
“On a track like this, what gave me hope of winning is that we were starting first, and with the dirty air it’s a struggle to get past. I think Oscar probably had a bit more pace than me, but couldn’t overtake.
“I don’t think we are going into the second half of the season thinking that we can win anywhere.
“That’s what makes the frustration even bigger, because we knew that this was one opportunity probably over the season and we had to take it, but unfortunately with this issue we couldn’t do much.”
As for that issue, Leclerc revealed it was chassis-related and not caused by the “thing” that he thought the team could control.
“First of all, I need to take back the words I’ve said in the radio because I thought that it was coming from one thing, but then I got a lot more detail since I got out of the car,” said the 27-year-old.
“It was actually an issue coming from the chassis and nothing that we could have done differently.
“I started to feel the issue in Lap 40 or something like that, and then it got worse, laps after laps after laps, and towards the end we were two seconds off the pace.
“The car was just undriveable. But I mean, again, as I repeat myself, this was an issue and it’s an outlier. It shouldn’t ever happen again.
“I mean, I’m still very disappointed. We had one opportunity this year to win a race, which I think was this weekend.
“The first stint was perfect. The first laps of the second stint was really good as well. I think we were in pace to try and win that race.
“The last stint was a disaster when I started to have an issue in the chassis.”
Leclerc scored 12 points in Hungary, but lost ground to Russell in the Drivers’ Championship with the gap up to 21 points with Max Verstappen only 15 points further up the road.
Read next: Lewis Hamilton ‘in difficult place personally’ as Brundle casts blunt verdict
