'90% of them were completely unfounded' Charles Leclerc blasts media 'rumours' around Ferrari since the 2023 F1 Bahrain GP

Charles Leclerc addressed the rumors surrounding Ferrari since the race weekend in Bahrain, labeling them as 'unfounded.'

Ever since the Bahrain Grand Prix, there has been a lot happening in and around Ferrari, and not on a positive note, as reported by many. There has been a spree of engineers leaving the team without much explanation.

Though team principal Frederic Vasseur attempted to explain the situation, the rumors about more people leaving have been increasing nonetheless.

Charles Leclerc also addressed these rumors ahead of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. He stated that most of these 'reports' are false and that they are not fact-based. Leclerc told the media:

"Absolutely untrue. I mean, again, there have been loads of rumors around the team, which, for once, 90% of them were completely unfounded."

He added that he wants to focus on the team and their performance rather than the rumors and said.

"I don’t know where it is coming from. And to be honest, I don’t even want to spend any energy on trying to find where it’s coming from, we just need to be on it and focus on ourselves."

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Ferrari expecting a better weekend of racing at Jeddah

Following the team's performance in Bahrain, there is a lot of expectation from the second round of the calendar. Along with the expectations, however, Ferrari has their data which is promising, as the team principal stated.

Frederic Vasseur spoke about the race in Saudi Arabia, and from his words, it's apparent that the SF-23 could be a lot more competitive on the track. The circuit layout and the track surface are expected to help the team, and despite Leclerc's grid penalty (for using a 3rd CU), better results are expected.

In Vasseur's words:

"We found the cause of the issue that stopped Charles in Sakhir and will use the third CU on his car, which means that we will take a grid penalty. The Saudi Arabian track is very different to Bahrain in terms of layout and track surface, and top speed is particularly important. I’m confident that we can have a better weekend here."

The tire degradation issue that the car has been facing will not be of much trouble on the streets of Jeddah. This could mean that both Leclerc and Carlos Sainz can go all out to gain back the points they lost in Sakhir.