Charles Leclerc digs out F1 rival for actions in Spanish Grand Prix practice session
Charles Leclerc was left furious with one of his rivals during the first practice session at the Spanish Grand Prix.
Charles Leclerc was left furious with Lance Stroll during the first practice session at the Spanish Grand Prix. The Ferrari driver accused his rival of being 'in the middle of the corner' after the pair experienced a near-miss on track at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.
Stroll was driving at slow speed close to the racing line at Turn 11 when Leclerc arrived on the scene on a hot lap. The Ferrari star whizzed by on the inside, but was far from impressed with his rival's car placement.
Expressing his frustrations, Leclerc asked: "Who was the Aston Martin?" When race engineer Bryan Bozzi confirmed that it was Stroll, he snapped back: "Just in the middle of the corner as always!"
Ferrari endured a messy first practice session in Barcelona. Carlos Sainz dialled into the radio with reports of "no power" just 10 minutes into the session, while Leclerc labelled the balance of his career as "horrendous".
In the aftermath of his near-miss with Stroll, Leclerc was forced into the garage with a different issue. The Monegasque driver had an issue with the clutch when driving into the pit lane.
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Reporting his concerns over the radio, he said: "There was something strange with the clutch when I came in. The rear tyres locked up completely then went again when I stopped."
These struggles were not aligned with Leclerc's pre-race expectations. Ferrari endured a miserable weekend in Canada last time out with a double-DNF, but the 26-year-old backed his team to bounce back in Barcelona.
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“The thing that we have been focusing [on] most in the last few days since we understood the engine issue was mostly the lack of performance on the Saturday, which again here I think we didn’t manage things the way we should have and there was probably more performance in the car,” Leclerc explained. “I’m confident that we’ll be back to our level here in Barcelona.”