The Monegasque Formula 1 driver complains about the innovations introduced to the car which have not helped to advance in the classification
Leclerc identifies persistent problems with Ferrari tires
The Monegasque driver of the Ferrari team, Charles Leclerc, warns that the chronic problems of Ferrari with the tires in race conditions persist despite the improvements implemented. This situation became clear at the last Spanish Grand Prix. The season has started discouragingly for Ferrari, which has introduced a series of updates to its troubled SF-23 in a bid to improve race pace and consistency.
However, leclerc was knocked out of Q1 in qualifying for the first time since May 2019 after complaining about a problem at the rear of his car. Despite Ferrari deciding to withdraw their car from the grid to replace the rear end, Leclerc failed to make it into the points, crossing the line in 11th position once a penalty was given to Yuki Tsunoda.
Improvements work but problems persist
Leclerc ensures that the new pieces produced the expected results, but he says he is still hampered by the same unpredictability with the tires as in previous races. Despite the fact that the car had an acceptable balance, the performance was not consistent, this hurt him in the position of the Spanish GP.
The Monegasque explains that Tire management is Ferrari’s big problem. According to the driver, the performance window of the tires is so narrow that the team is always surprised by their behaviour. In the same race, on the same tyres, the car went from being very poor to quite good towards the end of the test.
Ferrari needs to understand what went wrong
After the race, Ferrari concluded that he had been unable to identify what had contributed to one of his drivers’ disastrous qualifying. Leclerc admits that the decision to remove his SF-23 from the grid to make modifications improved his feeling inside the car, but the problems arose during Sunday’s race.
The 25-year-old pilot affirms that the narrow operating window of the Ferrari 2023 posed new problems during the race on Sunday. Asked if he had better handling of the car in the race, Leclerc replied: “I did. The limitations were the opposite. Yesterday, it had a very loose and strange rear end, and we will look into this at the factory. Today, it was the front”.