Charles Leclerc Sends Scathing 4-Word Warning to Fred Vasseur and Co.

Max Verstappen scored his first victory in China and 58th individual win as Lando Norris and Sergio Perez rounded up the podium positions. However, it was Ferrari that failed to make an impression on the McLaren of Norris after being outqualified by the papaya cars on Saturday.

Charles Leclerc who started the race behind both McLaren drivers, could only gain position on Piastri, and that too because the Aussie suffered significant damage to his car mid-race. What made the race worst for Ferrari is that Leclerc finished the race almost 10 seconds behind Lando Norris despite two safety car periods in the race that bunched up the pack.

At the closing stages of the race, Leclerc radioed to his team and vented out his frustration by shooting a 4-word indirect message to his team boss, Frederic Vasseur. “We are so slow…“ said the Mongasque driver after a disappointing result. The other Ferrari of Carlos Sainz had an even worse race as he finished a further 10 seconds behind his teammate in 5th place with Ferrari sharing concerns about the tire degradation in the final laps of the race.

Although it was a disappointing race for Ferrari who failed to score a podium, the Chinese GP was filled with drama and varying strategies for the drivers.

What were some of the notable performances in the Chinese GP?

The race had its fair share of on-track incidents which caused multiple delays in the form of a Virtual Safety Car and two full-blown Safety Cars. However, Verstappen still maintained his lead throughout the majority of the race. The Red Bull driver was in a league of his own and finished the race almost 14 seconds ahead of Lando Norris.

Behind the top 5, Fernando Alonso executed an off-set strategy, making a late stop for medium tires after initially opting for softs, allowing him to climb from 12th to 7th position with a late charge. Lewis Hamilton, after a challenging start from P18 and initial tire-related struggles, managed to get his Mercedes up to ninth place.

Haas driver Nico Hulkenberg claimed the final point, rounding off the top ten finishers in the race. The local hero, Zhou Guanyu made history by becoming the first Chinese driver to compete on home soil, finishing in 14th position. He got emotional in the closing stages of the race as heard on his team radio. Interestingly, he had a special parking spot for his green Sauber on the start-finish straight at the end of the race as a gesture of appreciation for the Chinese driver.

What are your thoughts on the Chinese Grand Prix? Do you think the Ferraris were nursing some kind of issue throughout the race or they simply just didn’t have the pace of the McLarens?