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.”
Charles’ message and recap of the #SpanishGP pic.twitter.com/PVQ2gJGIAX
— Scuderia Ferrari (@ScuderiaFerrari) June 4, 2023
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.
167 laps on the board today for @Charles_Leclerc at #F1Testing 📷
Carlos will be in the car tomorrow for more @pirellisport work 📷📷 pic.twitter.com/UXNWLoDmm8
— Scuderia Ferrari HP (@ScuderiaFerrari) June 6, 2023
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.
