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Charles Leclerc posted a sarcastic message on Twitter after a disastrous weekend at the Belgian GP on Sunday.
The Ferrari driver started behind championship leader Max Verstappen of Red Bull, but the two men endured contrasting fortunes. While Verstappen went on to win the race quite comfortably, Leclerc was forced into an early pitstop to remove a visor tear-off.
That compromised his race, and he was always playing catch-up from there on. He only finished in P6 after a five-second penalty for speeding in the pitlane during a late pitstop as Ferrari chased an extra point for the lap's fastest race, which wasn't to be.
Summing up a disappointing weekend, the Ferrari driver said:
"P9 in Lap 1 then tear off in the brakes that causes front right brake overheating, have to stop to take off the tear off off the brakes, come back to P5, took a 5 seconds penalty for being too quick in pit lane because of a burnt sensor caused by the first issue. Beautiful day!"
Ferrari boss Mattia Binotto admitted that Red Bull were in a league of their own at Spa. Ferrari, meanwhile, struggled with tyre degradation throughout the race and failed to compete for the top spot. Their other driver - Carlos Sainz finished third but was almost 27 seconds slower than Verstappen and nine seconds behind the other Red Bull of Sergio Perez.
"Today's race did not live up to our expectations," said Binotto. "Red Bull has done a great job, and the performance difference between them and us this weekend, in terms of pace and also tyre degradation was clear to see. Carlos drove a good race. Charles was unlucky in the very early stages and from then on he had even more of a job on his hands."
He added that Ferrari would hope for better performance at the next race at Zandvoort, where they will look for a win. Binotto continued:
"As a team, we just have to roll up our sleeves and continue to improve the performance of our car. The next race at Zandvoort features a track with completely different characteristics, and we are ready to give it our best shot as always, aiming for the win."
Charles Leclerc reflects on another disastrous weekend for Ferrari
After falling further behind in the championship race, Charles Leclerc was quite dejected after the race. Leclerc (186) is now 98 points behind race leader Verstappen and also lost second place to Perez (191).
Admitting that Ferrari lacked pace at Spa, the team needs work to close the gap.
"We started well, then on lap 3, we unfortunately had a tear-off in the brake duct that meant I had to pit when I was in P9," reflected Leclerc. "That set us back quite a bit. From that moment on, I knew that it was going to be a difficult race. The feeling in the car was quite ok, but compared to our competitors, we were lacking pace. They made a huge step leading up to this weekend, and we have to work on closing the gap."
Following the disappointing weekend at Spa, Leclerc's championship hopes are as good as ever.
