Ferrari has been going through a rough patch for the last few years. Since winning the title back in 2008, success has eluded the Maranello-based outfit. This has led to major frustrations in the Ferrari camp, which even went to the extent of star driver Charles Leclerc accusing the team of making his life difficult during the 2023 Canadian GP. Now, in an interview with La Gazetta Dello Sport, team principal Fred Vasseur has claimed that Leclerc can get a bit too impulsive at times, which does not really help the team.
Ferrari raised the hopes of the Tifosi at the beginning of 2022 after they rocked up to the grid with a pretty competitive car and started to fight for wins. However, the sand castle soon fell apart as a series of strategy errors and driver mistakes meant that the team failed to take advantage of their pace. To make things worse, by the start of the second half of the season, Red Bull caught up with them. After that, it was game over for Ferrari.
A solid six-place comeback for @Charles_Leclerc in Montreal: after starting 10th, he put down a good pace and finished 4th 💪🏻
📸: @ScuderiaFerrari#F1 #CanadianGP pic.twitter.com/wJo5B2n8y2
— All Road Management (@All_Road) June 18, 2023
As for the 2023 season, things haven’t really gotten any easier for the team. The start of the season saw the team fall behind the likes of Aston Martin and now Mercedes and McLaren have outjumped them in terms of performance. Additionally, the strategy errors at the Italian team seem to be never-ending, which adds to the drivers’ misery.
Charles Leclerc does not hold back
The frustration had boiled over during the Canadian GP when Charles Leclerc called out the team and commented that they do not really make life easy for him at times. This comment came after the team refused to listen to Leclerc regarding the selection of slick tires on a drying track during qualifying.
Frustration and disappointment for Charles Leclerc as he misses out on another Q3 appearance 💔#CanadianGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/5xWBntA54l
— Formula 1 (@F1) June 17, 2023
This forced the Monegasque driver to put in his lap on intermediate tires and by the time Ferrari called him in to put on the dry tires it had started raining again. This meant that Leclerc was knocked out during Q2 and couldn’t reach the third part of Qualifying.
Frederic Vasseur recently spoke to La Gazetta Dello Sport regarding his satisfaction with his drivers. He explained that Leclerc doesn’t seem to hold back if things go wrong, and that can be difficult for the team.
Are you happy with your drivers?
Vasseur: “We can always do better, as a team and also as drivers.
Charles wasn’t expecting a season like this and at the beginning he pushed harder than he should have, now he seems to have digested the situation better.
Carlos is very…
— tami. (@Vetteleclerc) August 15, 2023
Vasseur said, “As a character Charles is impulsive. If something doesn’t go well he doesn’t hold back. However for his and the team’s sake, sometimes it is better to calm down before talking.” He explained further that the drivers do not really have the complete information during the heat of the moment. Therefore it is better to calm down and understand the whole perspective before making comments about the team.
Carlos Sainz has been more consistent than ever
Vasseur also spoke about Sainz and how the Spanish driver has been much more consistent than before. Vasseur said, “[Charles] is still very fast, but this year if you look at qualifying, Carlos has been more up to it than in the past.”
However, Sainz has not really been happy with the team and even went on to accuse them of favoring Leclerc. During the Austrian GP, Sainz called out the team for sabotaging his race which he believes was a response to the messed up pitstop of Charles Leclerc. Therefore, things haven’t been too smooth for Ferrari with Sainz either.
