The situation of Charles Leclerc is just getting worse. A spate of setbacks has befallen the Monegasque, who has poured his heart and soul into preparing for the latest F1 season. The resounding winner of last year’s Australian Grand Prix struggled throughout the Melbourne qualifying this year. Everything that the Monegasque still held onto up until the last race in Jeddah appears to be slipping out of his clutches. Following the Australian Grand Prix qualifying, he pointed up the Prancing Horse’s error, but the autocratic Frederic Vasseur chastised him for doing so.

The Red Bull was already far ahead of the Ferrari and after the Q3 at Albert Park, the Mercedes was able to pull off a miracle with Sergio Perez’s tragic collision with the gravel adding salts to the wound of Scuderia. Aston Martin has already labeled itself the new top team, which has made life difficult for the entire Ferrari side.

Despite Ferrari’s decision to forgo providing new aero elements for this weekend, like Mercedes and Red Bull, Leclerc accepted responsibility for the weak performance. He claimed that he “wasn’t driving properly” before being slowed down behind Sainz. Besides, Lance Stroll also overcame Leclerc and finished ahead of him, adding insult to injury.

But what caught the attention of the fans was Leclerc’s outburst while driving back to the pits. So what exactly transpired there to make Leclerc so outrageous? To get the tires up to temperature, the crew actually forbade the Monegasque from performing any additional warm-up. Dictator Frederic Vasseur addressed the matter. He stated how Charles Leclerc paid for the limited time remaining on the Q3 clock by citing the challenges Ferrari faced.

As quoted by Formula passion, he said, “We were at the limit with the time towards the end of the session and so we avoided doing the preparation lap with Charles.” Later Vasseur also added, how Saturday turned out to be a tough day, he added, “Today’s qualifying was extremely tight and unfortunately things didn’t go the right way for us. Carlos was unable to put together a lap–pointed out the former Sauber boss–losing a couple of tenths in turn 1, without which he could have been second or third.”

READ MORE: Ferrari Told To Be “Grown Up” Under Frederic Vasseur’s Regime As Doors Close on Charles Leclerc’s Championship Hopes

Strong and with the mentality to run a team like Ferrari, Frederic Vasseur is a man of action. And despite seeing both of its drivers struggle in the qualification, remains optimistic ahead of the main race.

Ferrari TP Frederic Vasseur remains optimistic amidst Carlos Sainz’s error and the misery of Charles Leclerc

The Maranello-based team may have suffered from the fact that rivals Mercedes and Aston Martin outperformed them in qualifying. And Frederic Vasseur is also aware of the fact that the Melbourne track isn’t particularly conducive to comebacks. Particularly if you don’t have a competitive vehicle. However, the former Sauber principal is optimistic about the team’s chances of claiming the podium at the Australian GP.

He said, “The points are still awarded tomorrow and after Jeddah we worked to get a constant and solid performance from the SF-23 in terms of race pace. We will focus above all on ourselves and prepare the race in the best way to recover: on this track overtaking is not easy, but we know that it can be an unpredictable race.”

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After witnessing the Ferrari errors, do you believe Ferrari will handle the battle with Aston Martin and Mercedes tomorrow?