Charles Leclerc shared flat-out criticism about Ferrari’s years-long issue with its F1 car, which has denied him performance in wet conditions, such as those at the Las Vegas GP qualifying on Saturday. The Scuderia had mixed but dismal results in qualifying, with Lewis Hamilton eliminated in Q1 in dead last, while Leclerc made it to Q3, but could only manage P9. After the team’s double DNF at the Brazilian GP two weeks ago, Ferrari chairman John Elkann had criticized the drivers, urging them to ‘talk less and focus on driving.’ Ahead of the Las Vegas GP weekend, both Leclerc and Hamilton had highlighted that the criticism was in a positive light and promised better results. Unfortunately, it all went downhill this weekend. Ferrari had decent pace in the practice sessions, with Leclerc topping FP1 on Friday. However, none of the three free practice sessions had wet conditions. FP2 was a slightly damp session, but nowhere near the qualifying conditions. In qualifying, both Ferrari drivers had trouble with getting their tires in the right window, especially Charles Leclerc, who found himself in the runoff areas more often. In a post-qualifying interview, the Monegasque blamed Ferrari’s lack of adaptability to wet conditions, stating that it has been an unsolvable problem that has existed since he joined the team in 2019. “Since I joined the team, we’ve been struggling massively at finding the grip in those conditions. It’s usually frustrating because it’s probably been my biggest strength in the junior categories. We are doing something wrong. I have no idea what that is because we’ve turned the car upside down.” Charles Leclerc expanded on how former teammate Carlos Sainz, who had driven for Red Bull, Renault, and McLaren, and current teammate Lewis Hamilton, who brought a wealth of experience from his time at McLaren and Mercedes, gave their inputs to help Ferrari’s setup in wet conditions, but to no avail. “We’ve had Lewis and obviously Carlos before that, who joined from the other teams that will tell us the fittings they had with the other cars, but it’s just extremely difficult to find the grip with our car, and very unpredictable as well, which causes us to do a lot of mistakes. It’s not that we are not trying because we’re the team which tried absolutely everything, but for some reason, we haven’t found our way yet.” Charles Leclerc ‘won’t miss’ the Ferrari SF25 in the new technical era from 2026 Charles Leclerc found the cold and wet conditions during the Las Vegas GP qualifying to be too tricky. However, he eventually made peace with the underwhelming result, stating, “It is what it is.” The Monegasque also spoke about Ferrari’s pursuit of second place in the constructors’ championship, which now feels far-fetched. Mercedes built a 36-point lead over the Scuderia after the Brazilian GP, and on Saturday, George Russell qualified in P4, ensuring a great starting position to extend its lead in the race on Sunday. “I mean, we’re fighting for third or maybe second, but honestly, second is going to be difficult for the constructors’ [championship]. What I want to do is to be fighting for wins, so surely it’s not a car I will miss.” Though Kimi Antonelli qualified in P17, he will start ahead of Lewis Hamilton. So, the best result for Ferrari at the Las Vegas GP would be minimizing the extension of Mercedes’ lead, with Charles Leclerc needing to do the heavy lifting.
https://www.sportskeeda.com/f1/news-weeks-john-elkann-s-talk-less-remark-ferrari-drivers-charles-leclerc-hold-back-criticism-car