Ferrari Team Principal Fred Vasseur has described Charles Leclerc’s self-diffidence in his Formula 1 performances as one of his “qualities” and one of his “faults”.
The Monegasque driver has amassed 119 points so far this season, scoring four podium finishes and a further six top 10 results.
Although modest on paper, Leclerc’s results have been somewhat impressive, given the tricky and sometimes uncompetitive SF-25 car that has been beneath him.
However, the British Grand Prix was his lowest ebb of the year so far, finishing 14th, having taken responsibility for a botched strategy in which he pitted for dry tyres at the end of the formation lap.
His summary of the race afterwards was downcast, saying he had did not “maximise” what he had and made “lots of mistakes”.
Vasseur, speaking to media including Motorsport Week after the race at Silverstone, was fair in his own assessment of Leclerc’s self-critical nature.
“For probably 10 years or so, one of the qualities of Charles is that he is able to blame himself, and one of the faults of Charles is sometimes he’s blaming himself a bit too much!” he said.
“As a team, I appreciate a lot the fact that drivers can say, ‘Okay, my mistake’ – this is positive, because it’s not bringing the team in the wrong direction and they are human.
“They are doing mistakes as everybody [does], and it’s good to have the drivers able to say this.”
Vasseur praises Leclerc’s race pace improvements amid previous qualifying focus
Vasseur explained that, despite Leclerc’s unhappiness at his own qualifying pace this year, there is a real sense of concentration going into the SF-25’s race performance.
Leclerc, a known and proven star over one lap, has not lived up to his own expectations this season, but Vasseur indicated there is no cause for concern from his side.
“He did a real step forward in terms of race pace, perhaps also with the set-up of the car, and it’s all going into the direction to be more difficult for the Quali,” he said.
“But I remember perfectly that two years ago we were telling him, ‘Charles, we are scoring points on Sunday, let’s be more focused on Sunday, let’s be more focused on the set-up on Sunday’, because it’s Sunday that we are scoring points.”
Ferrari will be hopeful that its new and long-awaited rear suspension package for the SF-25 can provide some much-needed progress at next week’s Belgian Grand Prix.
The upgrade is being tested a Mugello this week, with both Leclerc and team-mate Lewis Hamilton covering 200 km of running time between them.
READ MORE – Ferrari to test long-awaited F1 upgrade ahead of Belgian GP
