The F1 reality obscured by Leclerc's public Montreal frustrations

In the famous words of Edgar Allan Poe, it is often remarked that you should believe nothing that you hear and only half that you see. It’s a saying that rings so true for the way that Formula 1 plays out at times, as selective team radio comments and television interview soundbites can stir up impressions of conflict and drama that are not a 100% true reflection of what is going on.

For example, in the closing stages of the Spanish Grand Prix, Max Verstappen being exposed for ignoring requests from his race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase to not go for a fastest lap was interpreted by some as a sign of tension between driver and pitwall. But talk of there being anything out of the ordinary in the relationship between Verstappen and his engineer is something that brings an immediate smile from the Dutchman.

“We laughed about it after the race,” said the world champion about the fastest lap debate. “I mean, it's good. He warns me to make sure we are winning the race and that is the most important. We have that kind of relationship and it's fine. After the race, you see each other, and you're just laughing about the whole thing.

“It’s part of the kind of marriage we are in. So, it's alright. I think it's good because he always tries to get the best out of me, and I try to get the best out of him.

“At the end of the day, you make a lot of calls together, of course. But there are also more people involved. But yeah, the set-up of the car, it's between us, and you have to trust each other. Sometimes you might disagree, but that's important also.”

This disconnect between a public image of disagreement and the reality of a close bond behind the scenes, is something not unique to Verstappen. It rang very true for Charles Leclerc in Canada last weekend, too.

Ferrari’s strategy call discussions are a regular focus on the international television feed – especially when what the driver wants, and what the pitwall thinks is best, do not line up. Sometimes it happens in the races, but in Montreal it was all about tyre choices in qualifying.

Leclerc missed the Q3 cut, but Ferrari's call to deny him an early switch to slicks wasn't itself a bad one

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images

At the start of Q2, with the track rapidly drying, inter-shod Leclerc told the pitwall he felt that he should pit for slicks immediately. That request was rejected as he was asked to complete a banker lap before swapping tyres. When things shook out and Leclerc found himself failing to make the cut to get into Q3, it was inevitable that he would be hugely disappointed. Grabbed by the media immediately after the session he let rip.

“We have to be better than that,” he said. “And we cannot afford to do those mistakes again. So, I'll speak with the team.”

A few hours later, as Ferrari ran through its debrief to explain why it made the call amid the rapidly changing conditions, Leclerc had got a better understanding of the situation – and accepted that his criticisms had been unfair. Only Alex Albon had gone early with the slicks in Q2, and almost everyone else did exactly as Ferrari did knowing that abandoning the inter run to switch to slicks opened the door for the rain to blow in and leave no lap time on the board.

"I can perfectly understand where the frustrations of him, the team, from everybody, are coming. This is normal" Fred Vasseur

For Ferrari boss Fred Vasseur, dealing with a media storm after one of his drivers speaks out is something he has got used to as the situation with Leclerc in Canada was not the first time it has happened. But he is crystal clear that it is a mistake to judge the reality of the relationship between driver and team based on remarks made in the minutes after a session when they are pumped full of adrenaline.

“The reaction that they have on Sunday or Saturday when you [the media] jump on them after the session is sometimes complicated,” explained Vasseur as he reflected on the latest drama to play out in the media. “On the analysis of the weekend that they [the drivers] are able to do on Monday or Tuesday at the factory, then things have calmed down and we put everything on the table.

“Our business is always to do what are the pros, and what are the cons of the situation, and where do we have to improve. The analysis is always very constructive with Charles and Carlos. They are a bit emotional sometimes, but they are focused. The reaction after the race for me is not a perfect picture of the quali or the perfect picture of the news or the situation. And you know that the question in the TV pen is to try to get the guy to say something…”

Vasseur’s remarks about the TV pen quotes often being blown out of proportion is not to suggest that everything is totally rosy between Leclerc and Ferrari, because he does not deny that the performance on track is far from what he and his driver had anticipated. And he accepts that behind Leclerc’s remarks at times is an underlying sense of disappointment about the situation Ferrari finds itself in this year.

“He is a sportsman,” explained Vasseur. “It means that we had an objective that he understood quite quickly would be very difficult to achieve. So, I can perfectly understand where the frustrations of him, the team, from everybody, are coming. This is normal.

Vasseur is resigned to the fact that unhappy drivers airing their frustrations in the media comes with the territory

Photo by: Ferrari

“It is the same for every single competitor who is not at the level he's expecting. So now we have to build up on this and we don't have to have a bad reaction. We have to build up. It's OK that we are where we are, and we have to be very honest with ourselves of where we are today. And say, 'OK, let's move forward’.”

And it’s exactly the steady progress that Vasseur sees being made at Ferrari, even if at times it may be hard to see it on track. The truth of the Leclerc/Ferrari meltdown after qualifying was that perhaps the real trigger for the frustration was not the strategy, but instead a sense of disappointment that the huge optimism that had erupted behind the scenes earlier in the weekend after a very encouraging FP2 had fallen flat.

As Vasseur revealed: “When we stopped on the Friday evening, after the debrief, Charles came to me to say it was the best car he had had since the beginning of the season, and the best feeling he had since the beginning of the season.”

It is those behind-the-scenes moments that offer a greater insight into what is really going on, than some pointed remarks broadcast over team radio. That is something even Verstappen well knows.

At the heart of Leclerc's disappointment was his confident feeling in the Ferrari on Friday, which had disappeared by Saturday

Photo by: Ferrari