Despite being the most successful constructor in F1 history, Ferrari has recently become infamous for their miscommunication and poor decisions. Another such incident took place at the Austrian Grand Prix this weekend with star driver Charles Leclerc.
Because of a miscommunication that the Monegasque had with his team, he ended up ‘impeding‘ McLaren’s Oscar Piastri during the sprint shootout. As a result of the same, Leclerc will now suffer a three-place grid penalty during the sprint race. This penalty will drop the 25-year-old from sixth place to ninth place.
the moment charles was entering the pits and impeded oscar 🙃 pic.twitter.com/zqeB17gwLQ
— clara (@leclercsletters) July 1, 2023
And this is not the first time that Ferrari has cost Leclerc because of errors on their part. Even last year when Leclerc was fighting for the world championship against Max Verstappen, the Prancing Horse made some poor strategic calls that cost the Monegasque greatly.
Ferrari cost Charles Leclerc yet again
Despite bringing upgrades to this weekend, Ferrari was not able to make the most of it because of yet another miscommunication. Charles Leclerc showcased the potential that the team had this weekend by qualifying an outstanding second on Friday.
While the Monegasque was unable to replicate such a performance on Saturday, he yet put up a decent performance to qualify sixth. However, all his efforts will go in vain, as a three-place grid penalty will now drop him to ninth, behind the two Aston Martins of Fernando Alonso and Lance Stroll, and also Alpine’s Esteban Ocon.
another day, another moment the team makes charles lose positions in a race cause they don’t tell him where the mclaren drivers are 😍 pic.twitter.com/3SIfC5teH6
— clara (@leclercsletters) July 1, 2023
After giving the penalty to Leclerc, the report from the stewards confirmed that the 25-year-old was not at fault for the same. They noted that they had given the penalty to Leclerc since Ferrari had failed to inform him in time about Oscar Piastri’s position.
Leclerc blames Ferrari for their poor communciation
After being handed a three-place grid penalty, Charles Leclerc blamed Ferrari for not informing him earlier about Oscar Piastri’s position. The Monegasque believes that had his team told him earlier, he could have done better to avoid ‘impeding‘ the Australian.
This is not the first time that Ferrari’s mistakes have cost Leclerc this season. Earlier this year in Spain, the 25-year-old also blamed the team for providing him with a car that had good handling. As a result of the same, he ended up qualifying all the way down in 19th for the main race.
Leclerc explained after his Spanish GP qualifying about how he noticed a considerable difference in the car from the practice session to the qualifying session. The Monegasque stated that something was not right with the car during qualifying as even until the end of the practice session, he felt really good.
With Ferrari having cost Leclerc once again this weekend, the 25-year-old will have it all to do during the sprint race to clinch a strong points scoring finish.
