For the second time in three Grands Prix, Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc failed to finish in the points.
Starting P6, he had Oscar Piastri and Sergio Pérez either side of him heading into turn 1. As he tried to back out of it to avoid contact, the McLaren driver clipped his front wing and was forced to box.
As he attempted to work his way back into the points, he got stuck behind Lando Norris before the Brit made his second stop. Leclerc had 10-lap fresher tyres but was a lap down and could not pass.
Although he overtook Bottas, Alonso, Tsunoda, Stroll, Albon and Ocon in his final stint, the 6-time Grand Prix winner crossed the line in P11, just over 5s behind good friend Pierre Gasly.
The 26-year-old was delighted the race and weekend was over, as he explained the two key moments of his day.
“I am very happy the race is finished.
“First of all, we lost a lot with the front wing change at the beginning.
“Then we did a whole stint behind Lando, where I couldn’t overtake otherwise I will get blue flags and had to let him go again. Both things made it very difficult.
“When we had to use the pace to come back, we were stuck behind Lando. The rest was just struggling.
“First, we are not competitive enough. Second, obviously our race was hugely compromised after turn one.
“I tried to back out, but I feel like Checo was a bit optimistic on that one. It never really ends well in turn one here if you try and go three-wide. Already two-wide is quite tricky, so three-wide was very difficult.
“Oscar didn’t know Checo was on the inside and I just find myself as a passenger. Then when you brake, Checo braked even later, and then once you’re there you’re there.
“I tried to manage the situation in the best possible way, but it was impossible.”
Leclerc confirmed the numbers regarding downforce were correct following an upgrade brought to the Spanish Grand Prix. However, the Monegasque driver confirmed that the new package has seen the SF-24 suffer with new issues.
“Yes, it is, but it comes with other limitations that we have to look at now.”
In Barcelona and at the Red Bull Ring, Carlos Sainz says Ferrari has been suffering with bouncing in the high speed.
Asked if he felt the same problem, Leclerc said they ran two very different cars in order to try and understand their problems.
“We configured the car in completely opposite ways today, so I think there’s a lot of things to learn from the two configurations.
“It didn’t feel great on my side, but we’ll look into it and compare and hopefully grow from that and improve.”
Pushed on whether it’s a coincidence the Barcelona upgrades has seen the team struggle with fresh problems, he mentioned the new limitations once again.
“There are very little coincidences in Formula 1, especially when it’s two weekends in a row, so we’ve got to look into it and analyse.
“But the numbers, we are seeing them, so that means we have done a step forward. However, there are other limitations that we need to look into to try and get rid of.”
Following an emotional win on home soil on the streets of Monaco at the end of May, Leclerc has scored just 12 points across three Grands Prix and a Sprint.
“Oh yes, I did not expect those three results we’ve had since Monaco. It’s been very, very difficult for the team. There’s a lot of work to be done.”
Silverstone has generally been a strong track for Leclerc over the years. He remains very realistic about his prospects this time around, nonetheless.
Ferrari has gone from the second quickest team at the start of the year to the fourth one now.
“I feel like it’s going to be a difficult weekend, yes. If we look at the last three weekends, we’ve been struggling, so we don’t have yet the magical solution.”
