Leclerc admits he was ‘nowhere’ in ‘incredibly difficult’ British GP

Charles Leclerc endured what he described as a race where he was "nowhere" at the British Grand Prix on Sunday, as a combination of a poor tyre gamble, a lack of pace, and a few questionable on-track maneuvers – including one involving his former Ferrari teammate Carlos Sainz – left him languishing far from the points.

The Ferrari driver’s weekend unraveled early, when he was among the handful of drivers who made a bold and ultimately costly call to pit for slick tyres at the end of the formation lap, expecting the damp Silverstone circuit to dry quickly.

But Leclerc quickly realized his gamble was ill-timed as the move immediately backfired, setting the tone for the remainder of his afternoon.

“I’m not happy with that decision,” Leclerc said. “That was my decision. I thought the first and second sector was kind of [ready] for slicks. The third sector was wet, but I expected it, I had seen it.

“I expected the track to dry up a lot quicker. It did not, and I think [there] were quite a few to have done that mistake of thinking that it will dry up quickly. This is part of the reason why we had a bad race.”

The decision left him mired in the pack, struggling to regain positions on a track that refused to cooperate with his tyre choice.

Clashes with Sainz and a Sincere Apology

Leclerc’s woes were compounded by two incidents with Sainz, which added drama to an already chaotic race. The first occurred at The Loop, where the Ferrari driver executed an aggressive overtake that Sainz immediately called “reckless” on the team radio.

However, the Monegasque stood by his move: “That’s the way I had to do it, it was the only place on track that I could overtake.”

He defended the pass as “aggressive, but I don’t regret that,” suggesting it was a calculated risk in a race where opportunities were scarce.

The second incident, however, was less defensible. Late in the race, after switching to slick tyres, Leclerc lost control at Stowe, sliding off the track just as Sainz attempted to pass him.

Onboard footage from the Spaniard’s revealed the Williams driver was alongside Leclerc when the Ferrari veered off, resulting in contact that cost Sainz valuable track position and points.

Leclerc immediately owned up to the mistake.

“That was clearly my fault and I went to see Carlos for that. I know it cost him points, and I’m sorry for that.”

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His apology, delivered in person to Sainz post-race, was a gesture of accountability, though it did little to ease the frustration of the moment for the Williams driver, who was visibly upset after the race.

Leclerc’s struggles extended beyond these incidents, as he grappled with a Ferrari that felt woefully off the pace.

“We were kind of nowhere the whole race,” he lamented. “When I say ‘nowhere’ it’s like really nowhere. I was a second off and on top of that I was doing lots of mistakes.”

The lack of competitiveness left him bewildered, and he was determined to find answers.

“On that, I want the answers before going back home,” he said. “I’ll work hard to try and understand what’s going on.”

A Race to Forget

Leclerc’s candid assessment painted a picture of a driver at odds with both his car and his own performance.

“I really struggled to keep the car on track so it was an incredibly difficult day,” he said.

“I need to analyse what was going on, what did I do in terms of tools, in terms of set-up, in terms of driving that made everything worse, because today was extremely difficult.”

The combination of a poor strategic call, a car lacking pace, and multiple errors – including the costly clash with Sainz – made Silverstone a race Leclerc would rather forget.

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