Charles Leclerc opened up about racing with front wing damage following his first-lap contact with Scuderia Ferrari teammate Lewis Hamilton at the F1 Chinese GP.
The two Ferrari drivers touched just after the start of the F1 race, as drivers were battling for position. Leclerc’s front-left clipped Hamilton’s right rear as the Ferrari when the duo converged at the apex, suffering front wing damage as his left-side endplate broke off on impact. Max Verstappen, who had a clear view of the incident, quickly reported the visible damage on Leclerc’s car over the radio.
Leclerc’s race engineer, Bryan Bozzi, assessed the situation and informed him over team radio that he had lost “20-30 points of downforce,” equating to a lap-time deficit of around 0.2-0.3 seconds.
Surprisingly, Leclerc’s pace remained solid despite the damage. Ferrari ultimately decided to swap their drivers as Hamilton endured his own set-up related struggles throughout the race. Leclerc went on to finish fifth, ahead of Hamilton, before both were disqualified post-race for unrelated infractions.
Damage limited the potential of Ferrari F1 car in Chinese GP says Charles Leclerc
Speaking in the print media zone after the race, Leclerc explained the damage he suffered had a greater impact than it might have appeared from the outside.
“Honestly, it felt really bad,” he said of his compromised SF-25.
Leclerc lamented the missed opportunity, believing he could have finished higher without the front wing damage, given Ferrari’s strong race pace.
“I think we were generally quick,” he continued. “We’ve seen it yesterday [in the sprint race] with Lewis, myself. We saw it towards the end of the stint where I was very strong. All in all, I think we had a really good race car.
“Today I did a step with the car and I think that made it a lot better also for today. I felt there was a lot more potential. I was destroying the fronts and 30 points less downforce is a huge amount. I do not expect a car to be faster like that. Otherwise, we have a problem.”
Why Ferrari opted against a front wing change
Initially, Leclerc agreed to “survive” out on track until he could pit for a new front wing. However, Ferrari ultimately opted against making the change to avoid sacrificing track position.
Leclerc remained optimistic about Ferrari’s race pace, convinced the damage prevented him from fully capitalising on the car’s potential and mounting a challenge at the front.
“I honestly think today we had the pace to fight with the guys in front. And when I mean the front, I mean the McLarens,” he said.
“I think Lewis has shown it yesterday. On my side yesterday, I wasn’t doing a really good job in qualifying. I did a better job and I was looking forward to the race because I knew that the changes I had done were going to be a bit better for the race. It was, but unfortunately I couldn’t use the full potential of it.”
Contact with Hamilton was “a racing incident”
Leclerc was unfazed by the early run-in with Hamilton’s sister Ferrari, explaining that there wasn’t much either driver could do to avoid it in the tight, twisty corners of Shanghai’s F1 circuit.
“You can look at it in every different side, but I think it’s just a racing incident,” he said.
“I was down the inside. I didn’t really want to overtake, I just wanted to position myself for Turn 3.
“I saw Lewis was defending from a car on the outside. I did not expect him to cut back. Once he cut back, I was surprised. Then I couldn’t do much, but Lewis couldn’t do much either because he hadn’t seen me. All in all, it was just a bit unfortunate to have that in between our cars, but luckily it wasn’t the end of the race for any of us.”
