‘Even I can do a better job,’ Charles Leclerc’s race engineer feels the heat from fans for another radio fiasco at Miami GP
Charles Leclerc will start the Miami GP in P7 after a crash in Q3, but there was a moment in Q1 with his engineer that made fans pretty unhappy as well.
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Charles Leclerc (R) and his race engineer, Xavier Marcos Padros (L) (Via Change.org)
Ferrari have been on rather thin ice with their fans for a long time now. Apart from the SF-23’s (and many other cars’) lack of pace, there are reliability failures and many strategic errors. But Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz’s race engineers also receive heat from fans on quite a regular basis. Xavier Marcos Padros, Leclerc’s engineer, and Riccardo Adami, Sainz’s engineer, have often been ‘caught out’ by fans.
It seems that both engineers, but particularly ‘Xavi’, are never too far away from miscommunication. That or, giving forth an order/communication that does not make sense, at least in hindsight. Though this may not fully be their fault – as they also receive communication from others on the team. But, still, fans are now rather tired of this. It happened again in Miami, during Q1.
On the radio, Marcos Pedros and Leclerc had an exchange. The Monegasque was not feeling particularly good out on the track, and said: “My tires are not looking good. Don’t think I will improve.” to which his engineer replied: “We believe we are safe.” But cars started improving MASSIVELY. By the end of the session, the gap from Max Verstappen in P1, to Logan Sargeant in P20 was just around 1.2 seconds!
So, later, Xavi communicated over the radio: “We need the lap!” to which, Leclerc asked him to clarify: “We need the lap?”. Marcos Padros made it VERY clear: “Yes; we need it!” The Monegasque was able to get into Q2 rather comfortably, which is good, but fans were still upset with his race engineer. Perhaps that was because things changed as the session went on, and Ferrari were not able to predict it. That, or there was a miscommunication.
Read More: F1 Miami GP: Charles Leclerc admits only a ‘miracle’ could help Ferrari match Red Bull
Ferrari fans want Charles Leclerc’s race engineer gone
As you can probably tell, Ferrari fans are very passionate. But they’re also fiercely critical. Every time there’s a mistake, even a small, minor, or otherwise inconsequential one, the team receives major heat. For this radio mishap too, Xavier Marcos Padros was not spared by the fans. Some even wanted him gone from Ferrari!
Leclerc got into Q2 well enough and got out of it. But it got worse for him in Q3 – on his final run, he crashed out, bringing out a red flag. This meant the session would not be restarted, and Leclerc will start P7. He’s certainly on the back foot now, and after Baku, which was a very fantastic, and clean weekend for him, Miami has not been nearly as nice. It’ll be interesting to see how he responds on Sunday.
In case you missed it:
- F1 Miami GP: “Ah sh*t, here we go again”- Fans react as Charles Leclerc bins his Ferrari into the barriers in FP2
- Charles Leclerc reveals Ferrari’s Miami GP upgrades not enough to catch the dominant Red Bulls
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Aniket Tripathi
(1002 Articles Published)