Why did the Ferrari team principal apologize to Charles Leclerc during the 2023 F1 Monaco GP race weekend?

Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur had apologized to Charles Leclerc for the penalty-inducing mistake made by the team in qualifying. Leclerc had done a stunning lap in qualifying and had secured a P3 grid slot with his lap. That grid slot and the euphoria of that lap were, however, short-lived.

On his cool-down lap, Charles Leclerc was not informed of the fast-approaching McLaren of Lando Norris, and as a result, he ended up balking him in the tunnel. Leclerc was given a 3-place grid penalty that pushed him into the midfield and left him with no chance of securing the podium.

Ferrari boss Fred Vasseur later revealed that all he could do at that stage was apologize to Charles Leclerc as the team strived to do a better job in the future.

As quoted by motorsport.com, he said:

"He's been a bit frustrated in Monaco for a couple of years now and for sure yesterday was tough. It was tough first to lose the pole position for one-tenth or something like this, to lose the first row for two hundredths, and then the call."

He continued:

"What can I do else than apologise on behalf of the team and to understand how we can do a better job, and to improve the communication between the pitwall and Charles in this condition, but on both sides."

The Ferrari boss added:

"I think it's also due to the circumstances where its happened, into the tunnel and so on. But okay, we have to avoid to try to find excuses because it's the worst way if you want to improve, we just have to correct."

Charles Leclerc's mature reaction to another sub-optimal weekend for Ferrari

Charles Leclerc was quite pragmatic about how the race went and said that sometimes mistakes could happen. Hoping to keep his and the team's head high, he told Motorsport.com:

"Yesterday I got the information too late and that of course put us a little bit on the back foot for today. Of course it's frustrating. Any weekend like this one anywhere it's frustrating, at home it's even more frustrating. But on the other hand that's where we need to keep our head up."

He added:

"The season is long, it's not the only race on the calendar even though it probably means a bit more than the others. The points are the same, so we need to restart again in Barcelona, hopefully having a great weekend that time."

Charles Leclerc will be hoping for better fortune in the upcoming races as the driver tries to find some momentum in the 2023 F1 season.