‘Disappointed’ Charles Leclerc Looks On as Rival Max Verstappen Claims 2022 F1 Driver’s Championship Lead

In the land of bullfighting, where horns were locked, it is the Red Bulls that come out on top. This obviously hurt the Prancing Horse, as they lost out on a chunk of points. The day only got worse for Ferrari when, on Lap 27, Charles Leclerc had an engine failure and had to retire from the race. 

How the race ended for Charles Leclerc

As visible, there was no indication of an engine failure and an undiagnosed power unit issue forced him to retire. It was truly a sad sight to see as Charles Leclerc coasted into the pitlane. Everyone in the Ferrari garage had their hands in their hands. Surprised by what he witnessed, Charles claimed on the radio, “I think the turbo exploded”.

The Ferrari driver made his feelings very clear in the post-race interview. “Obviously disappointed as all the team is at the moment but yeah, in those moments there’s not much I can do apart from looking at the positives because obviously looking back at the weekend, there’s plenty of positives,” said Charles. 

“The pace in general, tire management, that was going to be a huge thing today and I think we are the ones who managed the tires in the best way, so I feel confident for the season.”

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“We just need to understand what went wrong, for it to never happen again because every point is important, and today by the look of it we will lose a lot of points in the championship. So we can’t afford that too many times during the season.”

And while this unannounced retirement has led his rival Max Verstappen to take the lead, Leclerc is quite bullish. 

“But apart from that, the team have been faultless since the beginning of the season. So it happens in a season, now we will just keep our head down and come back stronger in the next race”. 

A weekend of ‘what if’ for Ferrari in Barcelona

On the plus side, Ferrari has plenty to celebrate about. Their Barcelona upgrades worked and Leclerc was dominant out in front. The updates allowed them to take pole and could have been converted into a crushing victory. 

Charles had an incredible start and was able to prevent Red Bull’s Max Verstappen from going down the inside. Leclerc’s F1-75 was also kinder on the tires, allowing him to extend the stint when others couldn’t. 

While Ferrari is yet to determine the cause of the problem, they did say that they will be investigating the issue. “It has been a sudden power unit issue; certainly a serious reliability issue,” said Team Principal Mattia Binotto. “But the power unit will be back in Maranello, we will travel during the night, and tomorrow morning we will disassemble it.”

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Despite how the race unfolded, the Italian manufacturers were upbeat about the weekend and are looking forward to Monaco.