Charles Leclerc was thankful that Ferrari cleared the air before the Sao Paulo Grand Prix after clashing with Lewis Hamilton in Mexico.
Mexico was a difficult weekend for Ferrari. Despite having the pace for a potential victory or even a double podium, the duo finished second and fourth. On the surface, the results looked strong, but the circumstances in the race left the team with a sour taste
In the opening lap, Leclerc, who started fourth, climbed up to second and was eager to get ahead of his teammate. The duo ran side by side through the early corners until Turn 4. Leclerc broke late, and though both ran wide, Leclerc went over the grass and claimed the lead.
Leclerc had. no opportunity to give back the place as Hamilton lost second place to Max Verstappen. Instead, the Moengasque pushed ahead to mitigate a penalty.
The duo didn’t make contact in their battle, unlike Hamilton later with Verstappen. Yet, Hamilton was visibly frustrated, complaining on the radio throughout the race, including a threat of ‘big problems’ ahead of the red flag.
Hamilton’s irritation didn’t dissipate after the race as he questioned Leclerc’s mentality, pointing to a close call earlier in the season in Monza.
The Monza incident took place back in September, with Leclerc taking responsibility. Regardless, the incident and the reaction led Ferrari to organise internal talks ahead of the Sao Paulo GP weekend.
A delayed resolution
Leclerc’s few-day break between Mexico and Brazil saw him fly back to Monaco for the birth of his daughter before heading to Brazil.
It meant Leclerc missed media day, saying the situation went unaddressed longer than he’d like because of his ‘crazy week’.
“It was really good to discuss all together,” he said on Friday.
“Obviously, for me, it’s been a bit of a crazy week, and positively, because I became a father for the first time, so we didn’t necessarily have time to discuss.
“I think discussing whatever is left, or whatever frustration is left, was needed. Now I feel it’s fully settled, and I don’t think we should be speaking about it too much going forward.”
While the Ferrari driver seemed content that the atmosphere between the two had been sorted, his focus was more squarely on the issues both he and Hamilton suffered on Friday. The duo ended practice sixth and seventh.
A ‘very, very difficult Friday‘
“It’s been a very, very difficult Friday,” he said.
“The feeling was very poor inside the car, so we’ve got a lot of work to do, and probably more than on other weekends; we need to change the car quite a lot from today to tomorrow. It just felt quite strange in a way, so lots of changes need to be made.”
When asked if there was a specific area where the SF-26 was struggling, the Monegasque pointed to the straight-line speed but also to the corners.
“We were losing in the straights, but I think the car in the corners just felt…probably one of the worst Friday feelings of the season,” he told the media.
“So I think there’s a lot to be found in the corners, more than on the straights, where we know we have a deficit, but normally we are very fast in the corners, and this was not the case.”
Leclerc missed out on FP1, with Dino Beganovic taking the seat for a rookie session. This left the Ferrari driver with just one hour to diagnose the issue and help the team work on a fix.
He wasn’t sure it would be enough to be competitive in qualifying, but he said there would be significant changes for Saturday.
“I’ve got quite a lot of ideas on what to change, and I think there will be significant changes going into tomorrow,” he said.
“Whether that will be enough, because the issues we had were quite big, but there’s no reason why we should struggle so much more on a track like this, so we need to find a solution.”
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