Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc wasn’t able to replicate his heroics from last season’s Las Vegas Grand Prix late on Saturday night in Sin City.
In 2023, Charles Leclerc was incredibly quick on the streets of Las Vegas and narrowly missed out on victory behind Max Verstappen.
Adrian Newey admitted Leclerc deserved to win in Las Vegas last season, but the Monegasque driver wasn’t even on the podium this time around.
Ferrari were hoping to close the gap to McLaren in the Constructors’ Championship after both of their drivers outqualified Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.
While they achieved that objective, they’ll feel that they left some points on the table due to their strategy in the Nevada desert.
Carlos Sainz finished ahead of Leclerc despite some rather pointed radio messages from both drivers.
Sainz also avoided a penalty for cutting across the entrance of the pit lane after a late call from Ferrari to not change his tyres.
Both drivers will feel they had a shot of finishing ahead of Lewis Hamilton, but Martin Brundle pointed out on Sky Sports F1 where Leclerc went wrong on his opening stint.
Martin Brundle criticises Charles Leclerc’s tyre management at the Las Vegas Grand Prix
Most drivers were hoping to only pit once in Las Vegas, but it became clear early on in the race that strategy wouldn’t be possible.
Leclerc in particular was struggling after an initial assault on George Russell after leapfrogging Sainz and Pierre Gasly going into the first corner to try and take the lead.
Talking about the Monegasque driver, Brundle said: “Karun [Chandhok] telling me at race control that Leclerc’s been told that he’s got to stay out longer, he’s damaged the tyre, but you can’t come in yet.
“We don’t know how far the hard compound tyre will go.
“So, too aggressive from Charles Leclerc. He either needed to make that move instantly or settle back behind George Russell.
“It’s ruined, certainly the first part of his race.”
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Chandhok later added: “Charles Leclerc, initially, as I said before we need to stay out, the team told him.
“He argued saying there’s no point despite dropping back, he made the case to pit, so that’s his call.”
Charles Leclerc’s furious radio messages after finishing the Las Vegas Grand Prix
Leclerc wasn’t expecting Sainz to attack him in the closing stages of the race, but that wasn’t communicated to both drivers.
The 27-year-old told his race engineer that Ferrari should try telling Sainz in Spanish what his instructions were.
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After the race, Leclerc was understandably upset and had an expletive-filled exchange his his engineer Bryan Bozzi.
| Speaker | Message |
| Bryan Bozzi | “Pick up, please.” |
| Charles Leclerc | “Yes, whatever you want, as always.” |
| BB | “Charles, you did your job. OK, thank you.” |
| CL | “Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, I did my job but being nice f—- me over all the f—— time, all the f—— time. It’s not even being nice, it’s just being respectful. |
| BB | “Charles…” |
| CL | “I know I need to shut up but at one point it’s always the same, so, oh my f—— god.” |
| BB | “OK, but anyway, you did the right thing for the team.” |
| BB | “And pick up please.” |
| CL | “Yeah, yeah, f—— pick up what the f— we want. S—, s—, s—…and the radio is on. I’m sorry, that was on me.” |
| CL | “And my bad for the first stint, I was s— driving as well.” |
Strategically, Ferrari have improved significantly this year, but this race suggests that errors can still be made.
Lewis Hamilton will be pleased with Ferrari’s pace but will want any issues like this to be ironed out quickly.
Ferrari won’t make Hamilton or Leclerc their number-one driver initially, but they’ve shown in Las Vegas that they still need to work on their instructions regardless of who is leading the way.
