Charles Leclerc has come out in support of his race engineer Xavi and in the process taken a massive dig at former Ferrari team principal Mattia Binotto. Leclerc defended Xavi after concerns emerged that the Spanish race engineer perhaps panics while speaking to the Monegasque driver.
When asked the same, the 25-year-old told L’Équipe in an interview, “You do not know everything about how it goes. You do not know how he has to work. Especially last year. Yes, there have been a few situations in the past that I would call tricky but had to do with communication. Fred has changed that way of working.”
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Even though Leclerc did not explicitly name Binotto, it can be understood that he was referring to him as the Monegasque praised current team principal Frederic Vasseur and compared the situation to ‘last year‘ when the 53-year-old Italian was in charge. Leclerc stated that last year when Xavi spoke to him, there were “forty people talking to him in the headset.”
Hence, Leclerc believes that there was a significant amount of ‘distress‘ last year. And when it comes to now, Leclerc explained that while there is still a lot of pressure, there is at least direct and clearer communication between him and Xavi.
Leclerc had a heated conversation with Xavi at 2023 Saudi Arabian GP
The concerns regarding Charles Leclerc‘s stressful communication with Xavi are likely to have emerged after the heated exchange between the two at the 2023 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix. The Monegasque was furious after Xavi did not timely inform him about Lewis Hamilton’s position on track.
Because of the delay, Leclerc ended up losing his position to the Briton. On seeing Hamilton pass him, Leclerc sternly told Xavi on the radio, “Xavi, you need to tell me that before“. When Xavi replied, ‘Copy,’ a furious Leclerc added, “No, but come on! Being behind like this is really s***. I don’t know what to do. I’m not going to push anymore“.
Leclerc is angry with Xavi Pedros who told him way too late to push to jump Hamilton between the two SC lines
— Junaid #JB17 (@JunaidSamodien_) March 19, 2023
Consequently of this delay in communication, Leclerc failed to make any further progress on track and only managed to finish the Saudi Arabian GP in seventh. Following a frustrating start to the 2023 season, the 25-year-old will now hope to have a strong weekend at his home race in Monaco.
Charles Leclerc will hope to recover lost ground at the Monaco GP
Charles Leclerc has had a disappointing start to the new campaign as he is currrently seventh in the Drivers’ Championship with just 34 points. He is 10 points behind his Ferrari teammate Carlos Sainz and already a whopping 85 points behind championship leader Max Verstappen.
If Leclerc is to recover any of this lost ground because of the poor start he has had to the 2023 season, then he will need to ensure that he delivers his best performance at this weekend’s Monaco Grand Prix. With Red Bull’s Verstappen having stated that Red Bull may not win this weekend, this indeed could be Leclerc’s best opportunity to win his first race this season.
However, if he is to do this, he will need to get the monkey off his back by delivering at his home race which has been very difficult for him. In the past five Monaco GPs (both F1 and F2) that he has competed in, Leclerc has just managed one fourth place finish.
In all the rest of the four races, he either did not start or could not finish the race. And most importantly, even when he finished fourth last year, it is pertinent to note that he led most of the race and failed to win it for no fault of his own but that of Ferrari’s.
