Charles Leclerc had a nightmarish race weekend in Brazil, where his race ended before it even began. The race left Leclerc heartbroken as he was heard on the radio calling him ‘unlucky.’ But now, it seems like the Monegasque driver has left his failures behind and is looking forward to upcoming races. Leclerc recently revealed that he hopes to beat Lewis Hamilton and Co. in the championship, and that is his only motivation to race this season.
Talking about this, the Ferrari driver said, per Junaid Samodien on X, “I just hope that after this race that we can still be in the fight for second in the constructors because that is my only motivation for the rest of the year because whatever is left is something that isn’t super exciting.”
Disappointed to say the least. Lost the power steering and the engine power on the formation lap. It hurts pic.twitter.com/J7kIESy3Do
— Charles Leclerc (@Charles_Leclerc) November 5, 2023
Leclerc suffered mechanical failures in his SF-23, ending his race in the formation lap itself. He was starting the Sao Paulo race from P2, which gave him a great opportunity to claim some big points. However, Ferrari failed to capitalize on the opportunity, which would have reduced their gap against Mercedes.
Nevertheless, the Maranello-based team acknowledged the faults in their car and, therefore, is ready to challenge the P2 spot after making amendments to their car. For P2, the Prancing Horse have a 20-point gap to cover against the Silver Arrows with two races to go.
Ferrari’s boss emphasized on Brazil DNF, but they are ready to go
Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur has recently opened up on what caused Leclerc’s car to stop in the midway and lose an awful lot of points. He said that there were issues with the electric components of the car, which caused internal malfunction.
Nevertheless, both Leclerc and Sainz faced issues with their SF-23 on Saturday and Sunday. According to the Spanish driver, it was the faulty clutch in their car that caused the most trouble.
Carlos 🗣 “It is a big shame that Charles didn’t have the chance to start the race as we could have scored very important points against Mercedes here in Brazil.”
Wrapping up a challenging #BrazilGP with @CarlosSainz55, @Charles_Leclerc and Fred 🇧🇷
— Scuderia Ferrari (@ScuderiaFerrari) November 5, 2023
In the end, it resulted in a huge point loss for the Scuderia. On a day where Mercedes failed to make marks, with George Russell having his DNF and Hamilton finishing in P8, the Italian team could only reduce four points throughout the Sao Paulo GP race weekend.
On the other hand, Mercedes would also look to work on their cars for the upcoming two races. Therefore, Ferrari, Charles Leclerc, Carlos Sainz, Fred Vasseur, and Co. need to give their best if they want to get over the 20-point deficit and take home the P2 in the championship.
