“I’m not feeling good. It’s too much now, it’s been too many races,” admitted Charles Leclerc. He stated that it is getting difficult to cope with Ferrari’s recent decline. Leclerc has had a hard time even scoring points and making it to Q3, ever since his magical win at his home race in Monaco. Is this the first time Maranello has pushed him to dream and then fallen prey to their demons? Absolutely not! We have seen this disappointment far too many times, and it appears the Monegasque driver is at the tipping point.

In 2022, Ferrari President John Elkann backed the then Team Principal Mattia Binotto and stated that he had full faith that they would be Formula One champions again by 2026. To which Charles (who was 109 points behind Max Verstappen in the championship) had stated that he was not patient to wait that long. However, by the looks of it, even 2026 seems like a distant dream. And Leclerc has probably understood that.

“I don’t even know what to say anymore”: Leclerc has had enough of Ferrari’s mistakes

When Lewis Hamilton became available, Ferrari retained Leclerc over his current teammate Carlos Sainz. While this may look like the Monacan driver won in professional life, the reality is far from that. Scuderia Ferrari comes in every year claiming that they will demolish competition but all they end up demolishing is their drivers and in turn Tifosi’s hope.

At the British GP, when everyone’s eyes were on Lewis, hoping he’d claim the top step of the podium, Charles Leclerc was running a miserable race on the wrong tires (2022 Brazilian GP flashbacks right?) being lapped left right, and center. Extremely dejected after yet another Ferrari folly, Leclerc was at a loss of words post the race.

He said, “I don’t even know what to say anymore when I’m coming here [to the TV pen]. We’ve just got to reset as a team. There’s always one different reason that it doesn’t click, and that makes it even more difficult to analyze and jump forward, so we will try to put everything together in Budapest.”

“Definitely we need to speak with the team on the decision process and understanding what we can do better in order for me to have the better… more information in critical moments like this, or better information, and then we will hopefully make better decisions in the future,” he concluded.

Should Charles Leclerc bid Ferrari an early goodbye?

In December 2022, John Elkann-backed Binotto got fired from the team as the management claimed their second place in the championship, claiming it meant that they were the first of the losers. However, despite the upward trend after Fred Vasseur’s induction, the past few races have given us horror flashbacks. A few weeks ago, when Charles won in Monaco, he was second in the championship again, and this time the margin was lesser than the one he had two years ago (It was only 31 points). It felt as though ‘Ferrari is back’ in the game before their downfall began in Canada.

It is an open secret that the Italian Team is plagued by its old-school management. For instance, the higher-ups decided that the drivers would run an older spec car at Silverstone despite them having run all three practice sessions on an upgraded version. Result? Leclerc got knocked out in Q2. And then the wrong strategy calls (the team’s favorite mistake) compromised the race for him. The cherry on this disastrous cake is that Enrico Cardille (Ferrari’s technical director for the chassis and aerodynamic departments) has been poached by Aston Martin. In my opinion, it is about time that the Crimson Red team lived up to its historic reputation or they will lose Leclerc and disappoint Hamilton.

We have had four miserable races, including a very painful triple-header in the recent past where the Ferrari was defeated by mid-field teams and overtaken by a few backmarkers. A new low for F1’s most iconic team, right? This is exactly where they shouldn’t be if they want to make a good impression on the incoming 7x champion in Lewis and their retainee golden boy, Leclerc. The latter has always been touted as a champion material driver (especially before 2022) but the Maranello management has been stuck in a time loop of recurring mistakes. If Leclerc doesn’t move towards greener pastures, the overtly loyal nature may cost him his ultimate dream of a world championship. His ‘longest’ contract in Ferrari history is something he should rethink if this downward trend continues.