Charles Leclerc admitted he has “no problem” with Ferrari team-mate Lewis Hamilton after team order drama during the Formula 1 Miami Grand Prix.
In the final phase of the race, Ferrari’s drivers were seventh and eighth, but due to different tyre strategies, found themselves on opposing compounds.
Leclerc was on Hards, with Hamilton behind on the softer Medium compound and asking Ferrari to execute a swap to chase down the Mercedes of Andrea Kimi Antonelli up ahead.
It took several laps for Ferrari to deliberate the move, much to the annoyance of Hamilton, who was then unable to encroach upon Antonelli and a swap back was instigated.
Again, this took more than a single lap with miscommunication from the pit wall to the two Ferrari drivers, which frustrated Leclerc and even more so, Hamilton, who asked if his Race Engineer if he should also let the Williams of Carlos Sainz by as well.
Despite all the chaos, Leclerc held no ill will towards his team-mate, but questioned the Ferrari operation.
“Most of the time I say something, today I don’t think I’ll say anything,” Leclerc told select media including Motorsport Week.
“I think the story is going to be big enough already. We need to do better, that’s for sure.
“Today was not ideal and was far from maximising our potential, but we’ve got to regroup as a team and be better.”
Asked if he’d have considered letting Hamilton by without a team order, Leclerc “Not really, because I knew Lewis was on a medium, so if anything, he would struggle a bit more to go to the end than me, so we had to take care of tyres.”
However, the Monegasque acknowledged he’d have been arguing the same if he was in Hamilton’s position, and this is where his understanding lay.
“I understand as well that he wanted to try and do something different, so I appreciate that,” he said.
“I would have done the same thing as if I was him and trying to be a bit more aggressive with the medium tyres.
“There’s no bad feelings with Lewis, not at all.
“I understand that he wants to try and optimise as much as I want to try and optimise the car potential. The car potential is just this, which is frustrating.”
Pace is the real problem at Ferrari
Leclerc argued that discussions should have been held pre-race regarding driver swaps to avoid issues on track.
“I think we should have discussed a little bit more before doing the swap, because you’re trying to go to the end with those tyres,” he said.
“I’m trying to do a good job with my tyres and then everything is tricky. I did not expect Carlos to be so close.
“All of this made the situation a bit trickier, but I think there’s plenty for us to look at.
“As I said, we need to do a step and we need to be robust enough that whenever we find ourselves in those situations, we do better.”
The biggest problem, however, is performance.
That was severely lacking for Ferrari in Miami and the GP saw two McLarens, two Mercedes, a Red Bull and Williams finish ahead.
“There’s the frustration already that I was fighting for P8 at the time and I was not making any gains,” Leclerc siad.
“I was really struggling with the car, so there’s the frustration of that. And then all the rest, it all adds up.
“The radio doesn’t always… In this case, probably, but the radio is not always the real picture.”
Moving forward, Leclerc has no doubt he and Hamilton will work together to improve Ferrari’s situation.
“I think we will be quite aligned,” he said.
“On the fact that today wasn’t the Sunday we wanted, and even though the pace is not there, I don’t think there were any miracles.
“If everything would have gone perfectly, maybe we would have finished in front of Kimi [Antonelli], but that’s it.
“There wasn’t much more in the car, so I think we need to separate the two things.
“Yes, we need to fix those issues that probably cost us one position, but the other seven or six positions are down to the car. This we need to make it better.”
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