‘Car very poor’: Charles Leclerc voices criticism after a difficult Friday in Brazil

Ferrari has a difficult Friday in Brazil: Charles Leclerc describes it as one of the ‘worst driving feelings’ of the season – Team Principal Vasseur remains confident

Ferrari has had a disappointing Friday ahead of the São Paulo Grand Prix in Brazil: both Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton were clearly lacking pace over a single lap. The long runs offer little cause for optimism either.

“It was a very difficult Friday,” sums up Leclerc, who had handed his car over to Ferrari junior Dino Beganovic for the first free practice session and experienced a tense situation with Haas newcomer Rafael Camara in the second session. “The feeling in the car was just very poor.”

“So we’ve got a lot of work ahead of us, probably more than on other weekends, to make significant changes to the car [overnight into Saturday] in a number of areas. It felt rather strange, somehow. There are a lot of changes we need to make.”

“We definitely lost time on the straights,” analysed the Ferrari driver, who became a father for the first time in the days following the Mexican Grand Prix. However, pace on the straights is by no means the Scuderia’s only problem in Brazil.

Charles Leclerc has a disappointing Friday

“In the corners, the car probably had one of the worst driving feels of the entire season on a Friday,” Leclerc explains. “That’s why there’s much more to be found in the corners than on the straights, where we know we have a deficit.”

“Normally we’re very quick through the corners, but that wasn’t the case today.” It remains unclear whether the problems can be resolved through set-up adjustments to the SF-26 or whether Ferrari is in for a difficult weekend overall.

“I don’t have an answer to that yet,” says the Monegasque driver, at a loss. “I’ve got quite a few ideas about what we can change, and I think we’ll be making significant changes for tomorrow. Whether that will be enough… the problems we had today were quite significant.”

Leclerc, however, sees “no reason why we should be having such much greater difficulties on a track like this”, he says. Before the weekend, no one expected Ferrari to be so far off the pace. “So we need to find a solution.”

Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur remains confident

Team principal Frederic Vasseur acknowledged “a few problems” and “a lot of work” for the Scuderia. Looking ahead to the remaining days of the weekend – namely Saturday’s qualifying and Sunday’s race – the Frenchman appeared more confident than Leclerc, however.

“We still have a lot of work to do on the balance,” said Vasseur. “The drivers weren’t happy. Charles sat out the first free practice session this morning. We had a few problems today and have a lot of work to do to prepare for tomorrow.”

On top of that, the weather forecast for the coming days looks rather mixed. “That means we have to be prepared for all conditions,” added the Ferrari team principal. “But I’m no less optimistic than I was last week.”

Minor engine issues for Leclerc, but “no drama”

When asked about radio messages from Leclerc in which he had raised possible issues with his engine, Vasseur clarified: “We had a few problems with the power delivery during the laps. We need to fine-tune everything even more precisely.‘

’On his fastest lap, he lost a few tenths of a second on the straight,‘ admitted the Ferrari team principal. ’I’d say that’s no drama. It’s more a case of you focusing on first place on the timesheet, but that’s not where we are.”

“We know we still have a lot of work to do on the balance. The balance wasn’t good – not really convincing. The track surface is the exact opposite of what we had a week ago. That means a lot of extra work and a difference compared to last week.”