How the communication is breaking down between Ferrari and Leclerc

It happened again in the last Grand Prix in Barcelona. His engineer called Leclerc back to the pits to mount the hard tyres, but the Monegasque felt it was better to switch to the softs. He then told Xavi Marcos, who responded positively. Arriving in the pit lane, however, Leclerc received another communication from the engineer, who told him, "we're doing hard".

From then on until the end of the race, Leclerc did not speak to the pit wall via radio. It is clear that there is something wrong, also because it is not the first time that misunderstandings have occurred between the Monegasque driver and his engineer, choices asked for and then not respected, decisions are taken without consulting the driver or, on the contrary, relying blindly on the driver.

The precedents

One doesn't need to go back far to find another similar episode. Leclerc suffered a three-place grid penalty in Monaco for obstructing Norris during qualifying. This outcome would have been avoidable if the team had warned the Monegasque of the McLaren driver's arrival, as Leclerc could not see him in his mirrors.

The mistake was also acknowledged by Frederic Vasseur, who made it clear. "What can I do but apologise to him on behalf of the team and figure out how we can do a better job and improve communication between the pit wall and Charles in these conditions," the boss was quoted by the Italian branch of Motorsport. It is clear, however, that it is not normal for these things to happen in a team.

Another situation like that, still remaining in this season, happened in Saudi Arabia. The safety car is coming in, so shortly afterwards, Leclerc should have respected the delta imposed by the situation. The team then asks him to go full throttle before reaching the safety car line but tells him at the last moment.

Leclerc then rages about the delay, telling Xavi Marcos, "You should have told me earlier!". The engineer simply replies, "Copy," and at that point, still angry, Leclerc reiterates: "Eh no, wake up!". At the end of the race, the Monegasque's team radio is eloquent: 'Being behind like this is sh*t. I don't know what to do!"

Last year

The fact that it happened more than once in 2023 that Leclerc and his engineer had difficulty communicating should come as a surprise because this, especially about strategy, had been one of the main themes of last season for Ferrari. It had gone from where Leclerc had no say over strategy to one where the driver was asked for opinions and choices on virtually everything.

The culmination of the communication problems between Leclerc and Ferrari in 2022 was at Silverstone. Leclerc was leading the race, with a chance to make up many points on Verstappen, but under the safety car, he was not called back to the pits, unlike Sainz. With his tyres finished, he finished the race in fourth, while his teammate won.

Leclerc strongly disagreed with the strategy, but nobody questioned him about it. At the end of the race, he said: "I am not one to demand clarification from Ferrari. But I can't help but say it was a frustrating race. In the moments that follow, the photo is taken that best represents Ferrari's last season from the point of view of relations in the team: Binotto scolding Leclerc.

Things were expected to improve after that explosive event, but the race at Interlagos last November instead confirms all the problems. In qualifying, Leclerc is brought out on intermediates, much to his perplexity, while all 19 drivers used dry tyres. The result is a disastrous qualifying, during which the Monegasque ironically states on team radio: "Boy wonderful, f****** wonderful".

In the race, Leclerc asks to reverse positions with Sainz to gain precious points for second place in the world championship. He is denied by the pit wall, and Mekies told him, "There's another reason why we didn't do the position swap", to which Leclerc replied, "Yeah, I don't know what reason you're talking about, I'm sorry anyway"  Not a good atmosphere for the penultimate race of the season.

If Ferrari want to improve in this difficult season, they must first improve communication between Leclerc and the race wall. Otherwise, it could even risk losing its driver.