Charles Leclerc assured that there are no internal problems at Ferrari, explained the meetings with Mattia Binotto in the last days and revealed that the team has already made changes in communication to avoid mistakes during safety-car
Ferrari put itself in a tricky position with the strategies chosen for its drivers after the safety car was brought in at the British GP. Charles Leclerc lost an important victory for the Drivers' World Championship, but on the other hand Carlos Sainz got his first win in Formula 1. After part of the team working in Leclerc's garage was left out of the official victory photo, the Monegasque assured that there is no kind of division in the team.
"That is not true. And I didn't want to have to get into that because that's the kind of question I hear everywhere. And I didn't want to have to fight about this kind of thing. We are extremely close. Were we disappointed after finishing first and fourth in the last race? Yes. Were we very, very happy with Carlos' victory? Honestly yes," Charles explained during the press conference for the Austrian GP on Thursday (7).
"But obviously we were first and second before the safety car and we finished the race first and fourth. So there's a little bit of disappointment as well. But there is no kind of division within the team, I can assure you," stressed the Monegasque.
Leclerc was also asked about the conversation he had with Ferrari boss Mattia Binotto after the race at Silverstone. He confirmed that he had another meeting with the Italian this week in Monaco, but that it was something routine.
"Well, obviously there has been a lot of talk about those two events in the last few days. He was angry with me at Silverstone because he saw me extremely down, which he obviously understood. But he just wanted to make sure I was okay, and I understood that he had done an amazing job considering the situation I was in after the safety-car," Leclerc recounted.
"In Monaco, it was something we do normally. He went to Monaco because the last five races were very difficult for me. And I just wanted to stay home, disconnect a little bit from everything and be 100 percent for this weekend," explained the Monegasque.
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Charles hopes that the strategy error at Silverstone will serve as a lesson to the team for the next stages, especially in moments of quick decision making, such as when the safety-car comes on. The current third-placed Formula 1 driver revealed that Ferrari has already made changes in communication, and he hopes things will improve.
"Personally, I don't think I could have done anything differently. As a team, I think we have already changed some things in the way we communicate during the race to be prepared for those moments. When the safety car comes on, you have to make a decision, and if you are not prepared, it is complicated. So we changed some things as a team, but I won't go into details," he concluded.
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