Trouble in the title fight

“Nightmare!” Leclerc lets off steam once again

Charles Leclerc was once again really angry.(Bild: AP/Altaf Qadri, APA/AFP/Giuseppe CACACE)

Charles Leclerc is in trouble again! The Ferrari driver had to settle for fifth place in the sprint qualifying session in Qatar. After his tirade in Las Vegas, the Monegasque once again took his race engineer to task.

Charles Leclerc's fourth place at the race in Las Vegas had sent him into a rage last week. After being knocked off the podium by his team-mate Carlos Sainz of all people, there was no stopping him. He vented his frustration at race engineer Bryan Bozzi.

And on Friday in Qatar, Leclerc was also furious. "This is a nightmare," the Ferrari driver complained to Bozzi in Q2. Leclerc wanted to know more about his rivals' times and was unhappy with his race engineer. "I have no idea! Tell me a bit more about the cars behind me, because I have absolutely no idea what's going on!"

"I'm trying my best"
 To which Bozzi replied: "There are a few cars behind you, I know. The next car on a fast lap is Piastri. All these cars around you are slow. Piastri is seven (seconds behind you), Piastri is seven." Leclerc hissed again, "Please tell me the cars that are fast!" To which Bozzi simply replied: "Yes, Charles, I know there are a lot of cars. I'll try my best." The air is obviously thick at Ferrari!

Setback in the title fight
Leclerc set the fastest time in the only free practice session on Friday, but then suffered a setback in the fight for the constructors' championship in qualifying. "If you give everything and then only finish fourth (editor's note: team-mate Carlos Sainz's result) and fifth, it's not great considering how important this weekend is for us," said Leclerc. Ferrari is 24 points behind leader McLaren, while defending champions Red Bull are already 53 points behind.