Leclerc ‘out of the window’ with race set-up: “These cars are very sensitive”

Another weekend to forget for the Monegasque From the front row to the eighth final position. Vasseur’s management at Ferrari led to a change in philosophy between maximizing performance in Qualifying and attention to race pace, but in Austria there was a re-edition – obviously involuntary – of a completely different Ferrari between Saturday and Sunday. Charles Leclerc has particularly suffered by finishing at the bottom of the list of top team drivers. The Ferrari driver also overtook Oscar Piastri in the Drivers’ standings and finds himself alongside Lando Norris with Max Verstappen at -6 points. The gap to Lewis Hamilton continues to grow. Between the seven-time world champion and Leclerc there are 46 points, the same that Hamilton pays towards Antonelli. Leclerc explained that, engine aside, incorrect choices in terms of set-up led to a Sunday of real crisis: “We chose a set-up direction similar to that of last year and in qualifying it worked well. In the race, however, it proved to be less effective and I struggled especially with the rear, with which I slipped a lot. In Barcelona we had a very positive weekend from the point of view of the pace, and for this reason we know that the updates brought work. These new cars, however, are very sensitive and, if you cannot find the right operating window in terms of set-up, you will pay the consequences immediately. It is something that we still need to understand better and optimize in view of the next races”.

Automobile Magazine – Formula1 English, News

2026-06-29 17:00:00