“We can win with Lewis”: Why Leclerc abandoned his late gamble on soft tyres

The Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix was the latest chapter in a long series of frustrating afternoons on the radio for Charles Leclerc.

An aggressively early tyre change failed to pay off as a Virtual Safety Car period handed many of his rivals the chance to make low-cost pit stops.

When the race was neutralised a second time Leclerc decided to make a bold tyre change. He was set to come in but changed his mind at the last second.

He therefore faced a joyless end to the race as he came under attack from Alexander Albon. Leclerc was infuriated by Ferrari’s instruction to let the Williams driver through on the final lap as they faced the threat of a penalty.

Leclerc’s key Emilia-Romagna GP radio

“You’re saying ‘traffic’ when there’s nobody”“I don’t care, we are speaking about ourselves”“We can win the race with Lewis”“How many cars behind me have new tyres?”“Looks like restarting it will be fine”“Tell him to give me the DRS if he can”“What did I do wrong?”

“You’re saying ‘traffic’ when there’s nobody”

The VSC period caused by Esteban Ocon’s left Leclerc with no good strategy options as his race engineer Bryan Bozzi explained:

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Lap: 29/63 LEC: 1’46.742

Bozzi
Yellow turn seven. Double yellow where you are, Ocon.

Leclerc
For fuck’s sake!

Leclerc
Unbelievable.

Leclerc
This is unbelievable. All the time I get fucked with these Virtual Safety Car or Safety Car.

Leclerc
What are we doing now?

Bozzi
We box and lose four positions.

Leclerc
We box?

Bozzi
We box and lose four positions. Box, Charles box for another hard.

Leclerc
Fucking shit.

Bozzi
Let me know on flap.

Leclerc
Flap whatever. Minus two.

Bozzi
Box Charles box, charge button on.

Lap: 30/63 LEC: 2’15.401

Bozzi
Leclerc pulls out of his pit boxTraffic traffic traffic

Bozzi
Should have kept position everyone’s boxed.

Leclerc
You’re saying ‘traffic’ when there’s nobody.

Bozzi
Close to Stroll.

Bozzi
So car ahead Stroll on 15 lap used hard.

Leclerc
What is Stroll doing? We are six seconds off the Safety Car delta.

Bozzi
We will report him.

“I don’t care, we are speaking about ourselves”

By the time the race was neutralised a second time, Leclerc had taken most of the life out of his second set of hard tyres. As soon as he saw the Safety Car was coming out he made it clear to his team he wanted to change tyres.

Leclerc was running 1.8 behind his team mate Lewis Hamilton when the Safety Car came out. This meant Leclerc was likely to lose time if he followed Hamilton into the pits. Bozzi told him Hamilton was not planning to pit.

With all his medium and hard tyres now well-used, Leclerc chose to switch to new a set of soft tyres. No one else ran this compound during the race and few expected it would last long. However as he approached the pit lane entrance Leclerc was committed to taking them:

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Lap: 46/63 LEC: 1’48.428

Leclerc
I’m boxing.

Bozzi
We need to stay out, we don’t have a tyre that can do to the end.

Leclerc
The soft will be better than that.

Bozzi
It’s 17 laps, Charles, 17 laps to the end

Leclerc
How many laps have my medium?

Bozzi
Medium has 11 laps. These hards are…

Leclerc
Tell me which ones are the best. These ones are fucked. We have new soft, no?

Bozzi
So Hamilton doesn’t want to box ahead. I’ll let you know.

Leclerc
I don’t care. I don’t care, we are speaking about ourselves.

Bozzi
So you want a soft?

Leclerc
Do we have a new soft?

Bozzi
Yes, we have a new soft. Do you want a new soft? Tell me now.

Leclerc
I mean, those tyres, I’m not going to restart them, so yes.

Bozzi
Box, Charles box. Open up. Let me know flap for soft.

“We can win the race with Lewis”

Leclerc appeared surprised when Hamilton did come in. He appeared to stay out because Hamilton came in, concerned that queueing behind him in the pit box would cost him more places:

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Lap: 47/63 LEC: 1’53.009

Leclerc
Why… I haven’t pitted. Lewis has pitted. I’m not going to wait behind him and lose more positions anyway.

Bozzi
Okay. Now we have to stay out.

Leclerc
No, of course.

Bozzi
So, Charles, let’s cool the tyres down. I’m sure part of it is overheating. Double yellow in turn seven.

Leclerc
It’s not as far as I can tell. I mean, you will see it.

Bozzi
Repeat, Charles. The guys ahead stayed out, for your reference.

Leclerc
Yeah, I think we can win the race with Lewis.

Bozzi
Mode FW, charge button off. Okay, Charles, let’s reset. We couldn’t have done anything.

Leclerc
Are you sure we cannot pit now? I’m not behind the Safety Car yet.

Bozzi
No, everyone else can push now, so they’re going to recover time. So stay out.

Leclerc
I cannot push, so they cannot be behind.

Bozzi
Now, now you can. Now you can push, now you can push, push so you’re ahead of Albon.

“How many cars behind me have new tyres?”

Had Leclerc switched to the soft tyres he would have enjoyed a temporary performance advantage before suffering heavy degradation. As the Safety Car remained on-track for an unexpectedly long time, the eventual restart came much later in the race, which might have made the gamble more worthwhile.

Instead, Leclerc was concerned about the prospect restart the race on his old hard tyres. He repeatedly asked Bozzi which drivers behind him had the benefit of fresh rubber, clearly dissatisfied with his engineer’s initial replies:

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Lap: 48/63 LEC: 1’43.267

Leclerc
Okay, let’s think about it at the end of the race.

Leclerc
Albon pitted on what, which tyres?

Bozzi
Albon new hards, Norris new hard, Piastri same lap tyre as you, 17 laps hard, Verstappen as well new hard.

Leclerc
How many cars behind have new tyres?

Bozzi
So, Albon, car behind, new tyres. And then Russell used, then Hamilton behind on new.

Lap: 49/63 LEC: 2’03.837

Leclerc
After that. I’m looking to see if we can finish in the points. And I’m not being pessimistic, these tyres are going to be incredibly difficult to restart.

Bozzi
Behind Hamilton, there’s Sainz 18-lap hard like you, and then Hadjar behind him, new hard. Then Hulkenberg 18 lap, used medium.

Leclerc
With emphasisHow many cars behind me have new tyres?

Bozzi
Three cars.

Leclerc
Okay, thank you.

“Looks like restarting it will be fine”

Bozzi reassured Leclerc that his hard tyre would come back to life at the restart.

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Lap: 50/63 LEC: 2’09.554

Bozzi
Still moving the car.

Lap: 51/63 LEC: 2’02.586

Bozzi
Still double yellow.

Lap: 52/63 LEC: 1’59.678

Bozzi
Lapped cars will overtake, it will be only Bearman. So Bearman ahead now trying to push. I’ll let you know if it’s this lap.

Bozzi
Albon, Lewis and Hadjar. Albon P5, Lewis P7, Hadjar P9. Charge button on, mode race. For your reference, Bearman now pushing on the lap with his hards is doing the same lap times as before, on a 20-lap, purple sector for him.

Bozzi
Bearman pushing to un-lap himself is doing good sectors with a 20-laps used hard like you, so looks like restarting it will be fine.

Lap: 53/63 LEC: 2’08.263

Leclerc
Yeah, you’ll see the lap time [unclear]

Bozzi
Safety Car in this lap.

Leclerc
What’s the difference of deg from my tyres to new hard? Just for info.

Bozzi
Three to four tenths.

“Tell him to give me the DRS if he can”

Leclerc managed to repel Albon to begin with, then when the Williams driver got alongside him into Tamburello, Leclerc forced him off. Hamilton now appeared behind him and Leclerc allowed his team mate through.

He asked Ferrari hopefully whether Hamilton might hold back to give him the benefit of DRS to help him out-run Albon. But Hamilton had Oscar Piastri in his sights and, besides which, Ferrari likely suspected Leclerc was at risk of a penalty for the way he dealt with Albon:

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Lap: 55/63 LEC: 1’19.416

Bozzi
DRS enabled. Albon 0.8 behind.

Lap: 56/63 LEC: 1’19.048

Bozzi
Albon 0.9 with DRS.

Lap: 59/63 LEC: 1’20.139

Bozzi
Diff entry plus one, Albon 0.5 behind.

Lap: 60/63 LEC: 1’20.680

Bozzi
Albon 0.5 behind.Albon attacks Leclerc on the outside of Tamburello. Leclerc forces him off

Lap: 61/63 LEC: 1’20.613

Bozzi
Hamilton 0.5Hamilton passes Leclerc on the outside going into Tamburello

Leclerc
Tell him to give me the DRS if he can. I won’t overtake.

Bozzi
Hamilton catching Piastri so you won’t have DRS. Albon 0.5 behind.

“What did I do wrong?”

Sure enough, as the stewards flagged the incident between Leclerc and Albon, Ferrari decided he should hand the place back. Had he not done so, and the stewards had decided he was at fault, he would likely have received a five-second time penalty and fallen to around eighth place instead of sixth.

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Lap: 62/63 LEC: 1’21.003

Bozzi
And we need to let Albon pass to not get a penalty.

Lap: 63/63 LEC: 1’21.576

Leclerc
That’s how racing is now? When he comes past, you need to let past? This is a freaking joke. What did I do wrong?

Bozzi
And this is the last lap.

Chequered flag

Leclerc
So now explain to me why the penalty or whatever.

Bozzi
We’ll know at the end. Now we don’t know. We’re under investigation. And pick up, please.

Leclerc
What do you mean? You told me to let pass.

Bozzi
Yeah, because we’re being investigated. I’ve just told you what I’ve been told. Pick up please where you can.

Bozzi
So no further action, should be P6. Well, thank you anyway. It was a good race. We were a bit unlucky with the first Virtual.