Angry Leclerc critical of Ferrari for making ‘too many mistakes’
Leclerc had dominated the opening stint in treacherous wet conditions but was undercut by eventual winner Sergio Perez as the field switched from extreme wet tyres to intermediates.
Things went from bad to worse for Leclerc a few laps later when Ferrari double-stacked their cars when the track dried out enough for slicks. Leclerc had initially been told to pit before Ferrari changed their mind, but the call came too late, with Leclerc already committed to coming in.
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The howler meant Leclerc dropped behind his teammate Carlos Sainz and main championship rival Max Verstappen to fourth, where he finished.
"Let down is not the word, sometimes mistakes can happen, but there have been too many mistakes today,” Leclerc said after the race.
"In those conditions you rely a little bit on what the team can see. I've been asked questions whether I wanted to go from extreme wets to the slicks, and I said ‘yes, but not now, later on in the race.’
“I don't understand what made us change our mind and go on the intermediates. We got undercut and I stopped behind Carlos. I mean, there's been a lot of mistakes and we cannot afford to do that.
"It's hard, as it's been the other years here, so I'm getting used to getting back home disappointed.
"But we cannot do that, especially in the moment we are in now, when we are extremely strong, we need to take these opportunities. It’s not even first to second, it's first to fourth, because after the first mistakes we've done another one.
"I love my team and I am sure I will come back stronger but it hurts a lot.”
Leclerc fumes over team radio at F1 Monaco GP
After realising Ferrari’s error, Leclerc screamed over team radio: “Fuck, fuck! What are you doing?”
The Monegasque, who has now fallen nine points behind Verstappen in the championship, added: “I think the first one was a very clear decision, and a very wrong one, and from that moment onward the mess started.
“I don't know if it was panic. The last message that I had wasn't clear, because I was told to stay out, but I was already in the pit lane.
“And that's where I basically let it all out on the radio and screamed, because I knew I was done."
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