Charles Leclerc has revealed that communication issues have been discussed at Ferrari ahead of this weekend’s Spanish Grand Prix, following the team’s costly blunder in Q3 at the Monaco Grand Prix.
Leclerc would’ve qualified third at his home event had he not been awarded with a three-place grid penalty, for impeding Lando Norris.
Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur revealed after qualifying in Monaco that the team were to blame for the incident in the tunnel, due to miscommunication.
In a bid to avoid future communication problems, Ferrari have discussed the matter before this weekend, where Leclerc was incredibly quick last season.
Want to work in Formula 1? Browse the latest F1 job vacancies
Leclerc would’ve won in Spain last year had he not suffered a sizeable power unit failure, robbing him of a sensational victory.
The Monegasque discussed the team’s communication prior to the action getting underway at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, where he admitted he should’ve “been more aware” of Norris in Monaco.
“We have a lot of discussions all the time after the races and whenever there’s a mistake of course we always try to improve from them,” Leclerc told Sky Sports F1 ahead of this weekend.
“In terms of the mistakes that happened in Monaco, of course there was the qualifying one with the traffic. This is [a] communication [issue] and we have been looking into it. I should have also been more aware and looked around a bit more even though it was in a very difficult place of the track with the tunnel.
“In terms of strategy on my side, again I think there has been lots of talks about a mistake but on our side of the garage I honestly don’t call that a mistake. I think it was a choice at that time so on that I’m less worried.”
Leclerc went on to finish his home race in sixth which did absolutely nothing for his title chances, which already appear to be over.
He will at least be targeting a strong performance in Barcelona, given that Ferrari have introduced a sizeable upgrades package.
The Maranello-based team have ditched their sidepod design and have seemingly used Red Bull as inspiration, leaving Leclerc hopeful that a “small step in the right direction” can be made.
READ: Max Verstappen offers under-fire driver some advice
“I think this is very clear for us, which direction we want to take.
“I think it’s good also to bring them here in Barcelona because it’s normally a track that is very good at giving you the feedback of the different parts you test, but we are pretty confident it will go in the right direction.
“It won’t be a huge change but it should give us a small step in the right direction.”