Charles Leclerc told ‘radio off’ after sweary rant

Ferrari had a weekend to forget at the Belgian Grand Prix, the Scuderia recording its worst two-race result in a decade.

Qualifying 13th and 14th with Leclerc ahead of Vettel, the team-mates finished 13th and 14th with Vettel having overtaken his team-mate.

Although Leclerc made a great start to run P8 at the end of the opening lap, one by one his rivals picked him off as didn’t have the power to defend on the straights.

It went from bad to worse as his SF1000 also suffered pneumatic pressure problems that led to long pit stops.

Told that his pit stop would be “slower” as the team needed to do an “air refill”, Leclerc wasn’t a happy chap.

He left the pits swearing in French only to be told to “switch radio off, radio off”.

Ferrari again explained that they had to “do an air refuel”.

Leclerc apologised to the team, admitting he had “not been very polite”.

Ecco cosa è successo al pit stop sotto SC di @Charles_Leclerc . Lo avvertono della ricarica dell’aria ma lui non rendendosi conto alla ripartenza che aveva la radio accesa si è lasciato andare ad una giusta scarica di adrenalina #Ferrari #Onboard #BelgianGP #Leclerc #PitStop pic.twitter.com/SQdG7bc67a

— Alex Brunetti (@deadlinex) August 30, 2020

Leclerc’s first stop of the afternoon had him stationary for 10 seconds while in his second, he was still for five seconds.

Ferrari confirmed: “As a precaution, we topped up pneumatic pressure on Charles’ engine during pit stop.”

Failing to score a single point at a race that he won in 2019, Leclerc was, as to be expected, very frustrated.

“It is extremely frustrating,” the Monégasque driver told reporters after the race.

“It was a very difficult weekend for us. The race wasn’t exactly easy either.

“We had problems at both my pit stops. I lost some time and positions as a result.

“Then I tried to catch back up but then it’s very difficult for us to overtake, even with the DRS, so we need to work and find something, because like this it’s very difficult.”

Source: planetf1.com; gpblog.com; gpfans.com