Charles Leclerc ‘mystery’ under the spotlight with ‘nightmare’ verdict issued

Pressure rising? Charles Leclerc has been outperformed by Ferrari team-mate Carlos Sainz

Recording just one top-ten result in a Grand Prix since his Monaco victory, Charles Leclerc is in the midst of a “nightmare” that is perplexing Damon Hill.

Ferrari surprised many when, even before the first race of this championship, the Scuderia locked in their drivers for the foreseeable future.

Damon Hill on Charles Leclerc: It’s just not gone right at all

Announcing Leclerc had extended for what he called “several more seasons to come”, the Scuderia then revealed Lewis Hamilton would be his team-mate from 2025.

That signalled the end of Carlos Sainz’s days in red, and also cemented Leclerc’s place as their preferred driver. It is, however, Sainz who is producing the better results at the moment.

The faster of the team-mates in the early rounds, China to Monaco then went the way of Leclerc, but now momentum is back with the Spaniard.

At a time when McLaren and Mercedes have overhauled the Scuderia on the track, Leclerc has scored just 12 points since his Monaco Grand Prix victory while Sainz has brought in 38.

“It’s been a nightmare for him since Monaco isn’t it?” 1996 World Champion Hill said on the F1 Nation podcast. “It’s just not gone right at all. Everything. Strategy seems to be out the window.”

The Ferrari team-mate tussle in numbers

F1 2024: Head-to-head race statistics between team-mates

The updated Drivers’ and Constructors’ standings after the British Grand Prix

Damon Hill: And yet Charles Leclerc is the guy staying…

What baffles the Briton about the situation is that while Leclerc is in a nightmare, Sainz is still scoring points.

Last time out at the British Grand Prix, an already trying Sunday was made even more so for Leclerc when he was called in for tyres as the rain came down while Sainz refused to pit and stayed out as he felt the conditions weren’t tricky enough for slicks.

Hill can’t understand why Ferrari aren’t giving Leclerc better strategy support, especially when he’s the driver staying next season.

“It’s a mystery to me because Carlos seems to come out of the situations making more of what he has than then Charles does,” he said. “And yet Charles is the guy staying, and I don’t understand what is going on in Ferrari.

“That means that he is not getting good support really from the team, from the strategy and stuff. It seems a little bit muddled. And I don’t quite understand why that should be.

“Whereas Carlos seems to be able to take command of the situation and just say, ‘Well, I’m doing this, this is what I want to do’. Maybe that’s giving the strategy people confidence, which they don’t have with Charles.

“I’m not saying it’s the driver’s fault, but I’m saying that if Charles is what you’ve got, you need to be able to have a better, confident pit wall strategy team there for him.”

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