Charles Leclerc fumes at ’embarrassing’ Ferrari result in X-rated Las Vegas GP rant | F1 | Sport
Charles Leclerc was livid with his machinery after qualifying only ninth-fastest for the Las Vegas Grand Prix, describing the result as “f***ing embarrassing”. Saturday’s session in the United States was the latest in a long line of disasters for Ferrari’s operation.
Both Ferrari cars struggled for grip throughout qualifying, and Leclerc counted himself lucky to escape a Q1 exit after spending the majority of the opening session without a representative lap time to his name. The Monegasque racer suffered more track limit violations than any of his 19 rivals.
His team-mate, Lewis Hamilton, also struggled for grip and saw his final lap of the Las Vegas Strip Circuit scuppered by a bollard that he collected and that became lodged underneath his SF-25, affecting performance. The Brit was eliminated in dead last, putting him at the back of the grid for Sunday’s Grand Prix.
Leclerc struggled on through Q2 and Q3, qualifying ninth-fastest overall, behind the likes of Liam Lawson, Fernando Alonso, and Isack Hadjar. Expressing his frustration on the radio after the chequered flag, he did not pull any punches.
“My God, how embarrassing,” he ranted to race engineer Bryan Bozzi. “F***ing embarrassing. F***ing hell. I don’t get how we can be so off the pace. There is zero grip. Zero f***king grip.”
Hamilton was equally frustrated, although he chose not to rant to Riccardo Adami after being informed of his Q1 elimination. “Probably, yeah,” he told reporters when asked if the conditions were the worst he had experienced in his F1 career.
“That’s definitely the slipperiest it has been, plus I couldn’t get the tyres working. The car was feeling great in FP3, and I honestly thought I was going to do well. I was really excited and thought that finally we would have a good day, but it wasn’t to be. It was as bad as it gets. I couldn’t see anything – I hit a bollard at one point, I just couldn’t see the corner.
Looking at the result in the context of his challenging maiden season with Ferrari, Hamilton said: “ It feels horrible, it doesn’t feel good. But all I can do… I’ve just got to let it go and try to come back tomorrow… This year is definitely the hardest year. We’ve got a really good car. It will be really hard to come back from 20th.”
Hamilton and Leclerc were under pressure to deliver in Las Vegas after Ferrari president John Elkann called out his drivers after the Brazilian Grand Prix. Instead, the Scuderia are facing another points loss relative to Mercedes and Red Bull in their Constructors’ Championship battle.
