Charles Leclerc labelled his present Formulation 1 hardships as “worse than a nightmare”, as an early name for intermediate tyres on the British Grand Prix value him any probability of scoring factors.
The Monegasque driver was operating seventh within the opening third of the Silverstone race having handed Lance Stroll into Stowe on lap 13, and was trying to make higher strides up the order earlier than mild rain started to fall over the Northamptonshire circuit.
Though grip was at a premium, with a handful of drivers getting caught out by the slippery circumstances, most didn’t really feel the necessity to pit for intermediates. Nevertheless, Ferrari referred to as Leclerc in on the finish of lap 19 to take the grooved compound for the lower-grip circumstances.
He rejoined the circuit forward of Valtteri Bottas, however was quickly handed by the Finn because it grew to become patently clear that the intermediate was not the tyre to be on, and continued to lose time behind the Sauber. When the heavier rain did hit, Leclerc needed to cease once more as his preliminary rubber was already closely worn.
“[It was] clearly the unsuitable [strategy]. I will look again into it. Clearly, with the choice, with the message I bought and the knowledge I had within the automobile, I felt prefer it was the proper one,” Leclerc defined.
“It was raining quite a bit in Flip 15. I used to be advised that on this lap, the rain was going to be very heavy, so I ended to attempt to anticipate.
“Nevertheless, the rain got here eight or 9 laps later. That was clearly the top of our race from that second onwards. Very irritating, one other weekend to neglect, and it begins to be so much.
“[This period] may be very onerous. I do not actually have the phrases to elucidate it, however it’s been 4 races that it has been worse than a nightmare. I hope we will come again quickly.”
Charles Leclerc, Ferrari SF-24, Max Verstappen, Purple Bull Racing RB20
Photograph by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Photographs
Leclerc added that it was troublesome to view the opening laps to his race as constructive given the result, and wished to assessment the intermediate name with the group.
He added that the outfit was in a “tough state of affairs” after rolling again on its Barcelona improve to quell the high-speed nook bouncing, and hoped to discover a decision after coming throughout a extra constant stability at Silverstone.
“It is actually troublesome to take a look at positives on days like this. I simply wish to return with the group, that we analyse the way in which we’re making these selections on my facet, and why we have been on the unsuitable facet in the present day,” he mentioned.
“It is a tough state of affairs that we’re in in the mean time. The upgrades introduced us the numbers that we have been anticipating but additionally introduced us various bouncing within the high-speed.
“For a observe like this we determined that it was in all probability higher having a bit much less efficiency however having extra consistency, and I believe that was the proper alternative.
“Going ahead, we’ll analyse all the information we had till now with the 2 packages and attempt to perceive if there’s something we’ve not understood but.
“The bouncing was [better], so the consistency was higher.”
