WATCH: Charles Leclerc Left Begging on Radio To Fix Crazy Ferrari Strategy at 220mph

Sabyasachi Biswas | 07/06/2023
WATCH: Charles Leclerc Left Begging on Radio To Fix Crazy Ferrari Strategy at 220mph

Even if the season has changed in Formula 1, Ferrari’s relationship with questionable strategy did not. After a series of critical decisions on the strategy last year, the Prancing Horse didn’t seem to have learned from their bad days, as seen in the recently established Spanish Grand Prix with Charles Leclerc.

After Mattia Binotto’s sacking and Frederic Vasseur’s arrival, along with a revamped team; the belief that the team from Maranello might have finally found the solution to their problems.

However, the latest incident in Barcelona is a sign that the Maranello-based team hasn’t learned anything from their mistakes, leaving fans red-faced.

As the driver himself took things into his own hands, this shows that they still have miles to go in terms of strategy, if they have to come out as the best.

Charles Leclerc forced to make his own fate

Despite having a dismal performance on Saturday’s qualification, there were chances for the Monegasque driver to finish on points, only if everything went to plan.

As the 25-year-old was eyeing a point finish despite starting from P19, the tires began to startle him, which has been a constant disadvantage of the SF-23 so far. As the Ferrari driver was struggling to manage the tires, he went on to consult his race engineer.

As the tires seemed to have lost grip around Lap 49, he said to Xavier Marcos Padros, the race engineer for Leclerc, “I don’t have any grip with these tires. Let’s not extend these tires too much, they are very bad.”

Following this, Xavi said, “We stop in this lap. We put hard.” As soon as the driver heard this, he shouted back even when he was traveling at a speed of 220 mph, “No, No, Let’s put soft tires.”

Hearing this, the engineer stated he understood the choice and asked Leclerc to pit. Despite this, he informed the 25-year-old that the team was going to put Hards, which shocked the Monegasque.

“Yes, for now, for now. We are going to put the hard ones, we are going to put the hard ones,” confirmed Xavi as per DAZN F1. Following the pit stop, there was a deafening silence on the part of Charles Leclerc, as he went on to finish the race in P11, just outside the points.

Ferrari’s history of bad strategic decisions

After a series of strategic blunders, the team that was the hot title favorite last season not only gave away the lead to Red Bull but also couldn’t hunt back the titles they lost.

Despite having a monstrous F1-75 and the car to beat in the initial phase, they fell flat to the Austrian team’s superior strategy, while they went on to make questionable on-track decisions.

From calling for the double stack in Monaco, which comprised Leclerc’s win, to calling Leclerc instead of Sainz to fend off Verstappen, there were numerous calls that broke the hearts of Tifosi.

Post Edited By: Shreya Sanjeev
Charles Leclerc ferrari Xavier Marcos Padros

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Sabyasachi Biswas

Sabyasachi Biswas is an F1 journalist at The SportsRush. With over one and a half decades of love for the sport and five years of experience in the field, he dreams to be a regular at the paddock when the lights go out. A Red Bull fan and F1 fan in general over the years, he enjoyed watching Felipe Massa, Sebastian Vettel, and Max Verstappen dominate the track. Apart from F1, he's also a big-time Madridista and Federer fanatic. He was a sub-junior level footballer, won inter-district quizzes and debate competitions back in school. A travel freak throughout, he tries different cuisines and learns new cultures whenever he's away from the keyboard.

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