Charles Leclerc says his exclusion from last weekend’s US Grand Prix came as a complete surprise to Ferrari and to himself as the team believed that the floor plank on its SF-23 had ample margin for wear.
Leclerc was disqualified from the race at The Circuit of the Americas, where he had finished sixth, after a post-race inspection revealed that the plank’s wear had surpassed the 1 mm tolerance offered by the regulations, a fate also suffered by Mercedes’ Lewis Hamilton who had finished second.
Race winner Max Verstappen’s Red Bull and Lando Norris’ McLaren were also checked by the FIA’s technical delegate but their car’s floor plank was declared in compliance with the rules.
It was believed that COTA’s bumps combined with imperfect settings due to Friday's constrained timing had opened the door to the excessive plank wear.
"Honestly, it was a complete surprise," Leclerc said in Mexico City on Thursday. "Because on Friday when we could change the car, there was zero wear, so it's not like we were touching anywhere.
"Then you get to the race and obviously, things haven't changed, but we were illegal.
"Rules are rules, and they need to be respected, so it's not an excuse to say that on Friday we were fine. We need to look into it to try and better anticipate what is going to be the wear."
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Leclerc said that a thorough inspection of his car’s floor on Saturday evening in the wake of the afternoon’s sprint event had not brought no cause for concern in the Scuderia camp.
"Also on the Saturday night, we could see more or less where we are touching and we thought there was still plenty of margin," he added.
"And then we finished the Sunday and it was a big surprise, so we are still in the analysing part of where exactly did we wear the plank more than what we expected.
Leclerc’s floor plank travails added insult to injury in a race that had seen him drop down the running order from pole following a poor strategy call.
The Monegasque was particularly frustrated by his pointless Sunday given the step up in performance of his car following Ferrari’s latest upgrades.
"It's a small step in the right direction, but I think we'll have to wait until next year for the biggest steps. We are speaking about bigger things," he said.
"I definitely feel more at ease with the car. But that's even more difficult to accept that whenever I have a very good weekend in the USA then I leave the weekend without any points.
"The good thing is that I think we have the proof that I feel more comfortable in the last few races and pushing in that direction should only help me to feel more comfortable."
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