“I don’t agree with this,” Charles Leclerc argues with Ferrari over Bahrain GP Q1 strategy

Charles Leclerc will be starting the Bahrain GP from the second place on the grid.

“I don’t agree with this,” Charles Leclerc argues with Ferrari over Bahrain GP Q1 strategy

Charles Leclerc (via IMAGO), Leclerc ranting to his race engineer (via @sharr__leclerc/X).

The first qualifying session of the 2024 season was filled with various twists and turns. However, the story of Ferrari’s infamous strategies, unfortunately, continues for Charles Leclerc. The Monegasque’s frustration was heard over the radio during the Q1 session.

The prancing horses have dawned in with a new face and have included various new aerodynamic elements to make their car the best of the rest.

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On the contrary, it can be observed that one area where the Scuderia still lacks a bit is in their strategies. Leclerc was heard on the radio disagreeing with his engineer Xavi, and his dispiritedness could be seen. While interacting with his engineer, Leclerc said,

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Charles: I don’t agree with this.

Xavi: We need to go. We are just checking track evolution.

Charles: Yes, but.

The 26-year-old was unhappy with the strategy proposed by his engineer. Leclerc didn’t want to go out on the track but Xavi wanted him to go out and collect data for the track evolution. This created a disagreement between the two and the former gave in.

However, after venturing out on the track, the 26-year-old was again called back into the pits and told to abort his lap. Subsequently, Leclerc could be heard swearing on the radio and expressing his anger against the strategic failure.

Its history repeating itself for the Maranello-based Ferrari

Ferrari is the most successful constructor in the history of F1. However, there has been a drought of championships at Maranello for more than a decade. This drought has been related to the strategic failures made by the team even when they have had the upper hand.

Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc
Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc of Ferrari (via ESPN India)

The Italian outfit was the fastest car for the first half of the season in 2022 and acquired the majority of poles throughout the season. However, the team only managed to win four races despite having the fastest car in the qualifying trim. The Scuderia had terrible strategy calls like in Hungary where they put Hard tyres instead of Mediums like the other drivers or multiple strategic disasters throughout the season.

Subsequently, this exposed the weakness of the strategy department of the red outfit. However, this issue has not been addressed till now as seen during the recent qualifying. Thus, Leclerc would have suffered the fate of bad strategy and could have been lower down the positions if not for an astounding lap later on.

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