Charles Leclerc was the only driver of the 10 who entered the SQ3 of Sprint Qualifying in Austria for not having set a time. The reason? A problem on his SF-24 at the exact moment when the pilot should have gone out for the out lap. Leclerc, unlike the other drivers, remained stationary in the pit lane, thus losing precious seconds and taking the checkered flag. The furious Monegasque immediately asked the team for explanations via his track engineer, Bryan Bozzi.
La Leclerc's concern and the conversation with Bozzi
Charles Leclerc, visibly worried after the Sprint Qualifying in Austria, immediately sought an explanation for what happened, making a series of questions to your race engineer.
"What the hell happened, guys?”, asks Leclerc. “The anti-stall has kicked in“, replies Bozzi. “Yes well, thanks, but it can't stop the engine!“, says the Monegasque who, as he returns to the pits, continues to ask his team for explanations: "Please let me know what it is. Before Mia's interview [Djacic, Ferrari PR manager”.
Number #16 reiterated what also happened in the subsequent interviews with the Sky Sport F1 microphones: "I do not know what happened I was in the pit lane and the anti-stall activated, and then everything shut down".The team told me we'll talk about it when I get back to the pits but clearly I've just got out of the car and I'm here so I don't know.“. Although we don't know what Leclerc's result would have been if he had managed to do a timed lap, we can hypothesize a third or fourth position. Not far behind his teammate Carlos Sainz who finished in P5.
On the potential of the SF-24 and the sensations on the track, Leclerc admitted that: "We weren't extremely strong, but we definitely could have done better than tenth place. So this result is a bit disappointing. We will look at what happened and tomorrow we will try to have a good Sprint race and get back to the front.".
Ferrari is in limbo between problems and bad luck
Ferrari is coming off two disappointing weekends in Canada and Spain, and having problems here too would mean having to start all over again, for the umpteenth time. With the specter of the penalty also looming. Leclerc is in fact one of those riders to have reached the limits of the Power Units. Any problem, such as in this case the anomalous shutdown, raises great doubts on the reliability side. The tenth position on the starting grid tomorrow in the Sprint forces the Monegasque to make an uphill start in an attempt to collect as many points as possible in the few laps available to the Sprint.
Declaration source: FormulaPassion
