Distraught Charles Leclerc left puzzled with a peaky Ferrari after the 2023 F1 Spanish GP

F1 Grand Prix of Emilia Romagna
F1 Grand Prix of Emilia Romagna

Charles Leclerc was left puzzled after a disappointing 2023 F1 Spanish GP where he failed to score points. The Ferrari driver had a horror race weekend that started with a poor qualifying session on Saturday. A driver known for his prowess in qualifying, Leclerc was unable to even reach Q2.

It was later found that there was something wrong with the car as Leclerc's onboard lap showed the Ferrari driver losing a lot of time on left-handed corners. As a result, the Italian squad did ring in some changes but the race was not too impressive for Leclerc.

In a race that he started from the pitlane, Charles Leclerc could only finish P11. Talking to Sky Sports, the driver looked distraught at how the weekend had panned out and was admittedly dumbfounded by the nature of the car.

"I don't understand what we are doing wrong but we are doing something wrong. I went from a first hard to a second hard in the last stint, did the same thing and the car is behaving in a completely different way. We have to understand and work but it's been a few races now where we are struggling with the conditions or having a really peaky car and today is no better."

Charles Leclerc further explains the issues he faced with the car

F1 Grand Prix of Spain
F1 Grand Prix of Spain

Further expanding on the issues he faced with the car, Charles Leclerc said that the changes made helped make things a bit better, but the outcome was not predictable.

"It did. But the limitations were the opposite. Yesterday, I could not drive, I had a rear that was super loose and strange. We will analyse all of this at the factory. Today was mostly the front. The feeling was a little bit better today. The second and third stints were quite a bit better. The first stint was really bad but I think that was more tyre related."

He added:

"I feel like all weekend we have been speaking with drivers and we are struggling. It's such a tiny window and on this track it seems to be more sensitive than others. We need to be on top of those things."

After seven races this season, Leclerc only has 42 points in the standings. The driver has had a poor start to the season and almost every race of his has been thwarted by one issue or the other.

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Edited by Akshay Saraswat