The Spanish Grand Prix seems to have driven a rift between the Ferrari recruits and how! Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz engaged in a battle for a better place amongst themselves as soon as the race began. This held both of them back from advancing on the racers in front. Dejected with the Barcelona results, Leclerc made a public jibe at his Spanish teammate claiming his entire approach was wrong.

As soon as the lights went out and the Spanish GP started, the action began at the front, in the middle, and at the back of the grid. Lando Norris made a move to decrease his gap to Max Verstappen and George Russell took advantage and went past both their cars. Meanwhile, Carlos Sainz entered the first turn leaving very little space for Charles Leclerc. This slowed the Monegasque down and he could not take on Lewis Hamilton who was running in P4.

When the cars crossed the chequered flag, Charles Leclerc managed to finish in the fifth position. He could have attacked Russell and Hamilton and gotten closer to a podium finish. It would have helped him score 5 precious Championship points. However, Lando Norris has now taken over Leclerc’s place in the World Drivers’ Championship table. And this has created a massive problem for Ferrari.

Speaking on losing the second place on the Championship table, Charles Leclerc said, “It was wrong to fight at the start, and it wasn’t fair racing from Carlos either, driving into T1 as if I weren’t there. I had damage on my FW and we lost some time there. We knew what we had to do, we had agreed on it before the race. We’ll talk about it in our debrief.” Thus, the advantage that Leclerc had built for himself by displaying powerful performances since the beginning of the season has been shattered by Norris.

Charles Leclerc gets self-critical after defeat to Lando Norris

The last couple of Grands Prix have been brutal to Charles Leclerc despite a strong start to the 2024 season. The Monegasque had a disastrous DNF in Montreal followed by an underwhelming P5 finish in Barcelona. Reflecting on what went wrong, Charles Leclerc said, “It’s easy to say we could have done better with all the what ifs and what where after the race, but that isn’t what we should be focusing on. We’ve lost ground to the front and we didn’t manage to make it back.”

Leclerc has been Ferrari’s leading force and his results brought the Tifosi hope for a fight against Max Verstappen. Now, his gap to the reigning World Champion has grown to 71 points. Even Lando Norris has a 2-point advantage over the Monegasque. If Charles Leclerc does not put his foot down and improve in the upcoming two races in Austria and Britain, the 2024 F1 title will be out of his hands.

Speaking of Championship hopes, Ferrari has already fixed its line-up for next year. With the entry of 7-time F1 title-holder Lewis Hamilton to the team, the Briton might make a brilliant pair with Charles Leclerc to win the coveted Formula 1 trophy for the Scuderia. However, those plans are for the future but Ferrari needs to focus on its present. Even now, the team is second on the Constructors’ table but McLaren is only 33 points away. Do you think the papaya army will surpass the Maranello team just like Norris went past Leclerc today? Let us know in the comments below.