The Abu Dhabi GP weekend has been nothing short of disastrous for Scuderia Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc. Despite overcoming a bout of food poisoning on Thursday night, the Monégasque driver missed roughly half of Friday’s first practice session (FP1) due to a battery issue. Ferrari were subsequently forced to replace Leclerc’s energy store (ES) system, earning their driver a 10-place grid drop for the Abu Dhabi GP.
This was a hard blow to Leclerc’s chances of taking P2 in the 2024 World Drivers’ Championship (WDC). After an excellent Qatar GP, Leclerc, currently P3 in the WDC standings, found himself just eight points behind McLaren’s Lando Norris. Leclerc had been hoping to outperform Norris this weekend, earning himself the higher finishing position. With Norris staring on pole for the Abu Dhabi GP, and Leclerc consigned to the back of the grid after a Q2 exit in qualifying, Leclerc will need a miracle to achieve this goal.
His team, Scuderia Ferrari, will also be hoping for a miracle. The Maranello-based team, which currently sits second in the World Constructors’ Championship (WCC), had been hoping for a flawless weekend, to maximise their chances to take the title ahead of the Woking-based rivals, McLaren. Ferrari, with 619 points, currently sits 21 points behind McLaren. With Leclerc now starting at the back of the grid, and the outgoing Carlos Sainz starting P3 behind both Norris and his McLaren teammate Oscar Piastri, Ferrari’s hopes for championship glory have been all but lost.
Leclerc motivated to “do something very special” in Abu Dhabi GP race
Following his disappointing Q2 exit from the Abu Dhabi GP qualifying session, Leclerc told media that while he doubted that Ferrari could have out-qualified McLaren, he had had the potential for a better starting position. He stated that losing his lap time due to track limits violation had made Ferrari’s chances for the race and title more difficult.
“Obviously, I don’t feel good after qualifying like that where we were a little bit better. It’s true that I don’t think I would have managed to beat the McLarens. They still were too strong, but we could have been fourth.”
“So yeah, when it was either P15 or P20, and P15 is better than P20. And obviously with my lap time deleted, it makes us start from P20, so it’s not, we are not making our life any easier.”
However, Leclerc added that he was motivated to “do something very special” during the race. He stated that he still believed that Ferrari could compete for the WCC title.
“However, it motivates me to do something very special tomorrow.”
“My goal remains the same, it is to win the Constructors’ Championship, and I still believe in it as much as I did yesterday, even though on paper, obviously, it’s going to be a lot more difficult.”
Ferrari “in a good position” despite setbacks
Leclerc explained that while McLaren appeared stronger, Ferrari had made changes to their car since FP3, and were better at controlling tyre degradation. He stated that he expected the team to be “in a good position” for the race.
“The race pace was okay, but McLarens seem to be a lot stronger.”
“But again, we’ve changed quite a bit the car since FP3, so I think we went in the right direction. And if anything, our tyre degradation is better than others, so I would expect to be in a good position tomorrow.”
“I can only blame myself” — Leclerc on Turn 1 track limits violation
Leclerc also admitted that fault for his early exit from qualifying. While he described Turn 1 as “difficult,” he noted that other drivers had managed to get past without track limit violations.
“It’s very difficult. It’s obviously very difficult, but it’s very difficult for everybody, and I was on the wrong side of things in Q2. So I can only blame myself.”
“I believe in miracles”
While Ferrari is desperate for a miracle to resurrect their championship hopes, Leclerc believes that one is possible. While he acknowledged that the race would be difficult, he said that he “saw an opportunity” to try something “special.” He added that he believed that anything was possible before the end of the race.
“I believe in miracles.”
“Yeah, sometimes it’s, again, it makes our life very difficult, that’s for sure, but with the 10 grid places penalty, it was always going to be difficult.”
“But I see an opportunity to do something very special, and I’ll do my best to do it. And I think, yeah, I’ll believe in it until the very last lap, everything can happen.”
Ferrari, have been “on the right path” going into Abu Dhabi GP race
When asked if other teams could attribute such miracles to their performance around the Yas Marina circuit, Leclerc stated that their performance was either as a result of their car being better suited to the track. Or the team having been on the right path of development. He stated that for Ferrari, their performance in Abu Dhabi was as a result of the latter, claiming that like rivals McLaren and Red Bull, the Italian team was “more or less there.”
“I think it’s more track-related for some teams. For some others, though, it might be a sign of being on the right path.”
“I think we’ve been on the right path since the last few races, I think McLaren, Red Bull, we are all more or less there.”
“Some others have been a bit more up and down, but yeah, it’s still exciting to see qualifying so close.”
While he acknowledged that his weekend had had few positives, Leclerc noted that his SF-24 had “felt a little bit better” during qualifying. He stated that this gave him hope for the race ahead.
“To be honest, there haven’t been many positives since FP1, in Quali, though, the car felt a little bit better, so that gives me hope for tomorrow.”
