Charles Leclerc doubts he will be able to test planned changes to his car after an electrical problem forced him to sit out the second practice session at Silverstone.
He was the quickest of the two Ferrari drivers in first practice. While Leclerc spent the later session in the garage, team mate Carlos Sainz Jnr went second fastest, just two-hundredths of a second slower than pace-setter Max Verstappen.“In FP1 we learned a few things, then we did all the changes to learn more in FP2 that we couldn’t test,” said Leclerc. “So that’s a bit of a shame.
“I think we’ll come back with the car I had in FP1 as the feeling was pretty good then. Learning when you don’t drive is very difficult. So in FP2, not much to learn.”
Ferrari “changed basically everything that was on the car” to fix the problem, said Leclerc. “It should be fine for tomorrow.”
“[It was] an electrical issue, so it shouldn’t have an influence on our weekend apart from obviously the lack of kilometres and laps in FP2.
“That’s a bit unfortunate because that’s normally where we prepare the race and Sunday seems to be dry. So we’ll go a little bit into the unknown there. Tomorrow should be very different with the rain around.”
Following the rain-affected sprint race in Austria last week Leclerc admitted his pace in wet conditions hasn’t been as strong as usual this year. However he said he’s “looking forward” to have another chance to run in rain tomorrow.
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“The last few races I’ve been struggling in those conditions, but I’ve been working quite a bit on that, so I’m confident it will be better,” he said.
“It was quite a tricky day out there with the wind and trying to get used to the conditions. The car around this track is quite tricky.
“But we actually did a pretty good a step forward from FP1 to FP2, trying different set-ups, trying different directions to go to try and improve the car in these conditions, and it looks like it worked.
“But still our race pace doesn’t look great and we need to keep working on it.”
Sainz said it was unfortunate for both drivers that Leclerc lost the opportunity to run in second practice. “We share everything like always. But it is true that it would have been nice to scan the tyres across the two cars, compare a bit our long run pace to see different management styles and driving styles to see who could manage the tyres better.
“But unfortunately this is what happened. I’m sure we will try and recover the time with his car tomorrow, although it looks also like it could rain.”
The official weather forecast indicates the risk of rain during final practice tomorrow is 80%.
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Coventry Climax
7th July 2023, 22:48
I get the feeling, more than just occasionally, that Ferrari somehow doesn’t want him to drive and shine. Too many issues too frequently.
I wonder if he has that feeling himself too.
Up to this point, Vasseur has not exactly been a smashing success.
MacLeod (@macleod)
7th July 2023, 23:16
just a few showers it will be more dry then wet!
Crawliin-from-the-wreckage (@davedai)
8th July 2023, 4:30
Just when you dare to dream……🥴