Ferrari say Charles Leclerc is ignoring their advice despite brutal run of form

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Ferrari have concerns about Charles Leclerc’s mindset as he endures one of his toughest stretches in red.

Since he last scored a podium in Japan, his Grand Prix results read eighth, fourth, DNF, DNF. Even that P4 in Canada was tainted by the gap to second-place Lewis Hamilton, with Leclerc calling it the worst weekend of his career.

Leclerc has shown just as much speed as Hamilton lately, but he keeps hitting the barriers. He has done so four times in as many weekends – twice in qualifying (Monaco, Barcelona) and twice in the race (Miami and Monaco again).

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Charles Leclerc is only becoming more self-critical as Ferrari try to stop him

After Leclerc crashed out of Q3 in Barcelona, he said he felt ‘very ashamed’ and admitted ‘it must be tough’ for his fans to keep cheering him on.

Those comments prompted F1 press conference host Tom Clarkson to approach Ferrari and ask what they were doing about Leclerc’s habitual self-criticism.

Ferrari have implored the eight-time Grand Prix winner to ‘stop being so hard on himself’, which they clearly feel is counterproductive, but they sense that the problem is only getting worse.

“I really struggle to hear Leclerc talking about feeling ashamed of his crash,” Clarkson said on the F1 Nation podcast. “He’s so hard on himself.

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“I actually mentioned it to the guys at Ferrari after qualifying. I said, ‘Do you advise him to stop being so hard on himself?’

“They said, ‘Yes, and the more we tell him to stop doing that, the harder he gets on himself.'”

• READ MORE: Damon Hill suspects Lewis Hamilton is stealing all Charles Leclerc’s ‘mates’ inside Ferrari

Leclerc, who will hit 200 F1 starts next season, has earned Ferrari’s trust, and the team don’t expect his slump to continue. They would sooner he be low on confidence than outright slow, but concerns remain over his ability to process setbacks during a season.

If he doesn’t significantly close the 40-point gap to the in-form Lewis Hamilton in the next few races, there will be growing calls for Ferrari to implement team orders so that they maximise their chances of beating Mercedes. That would leave Fred Vasseur with a mighty dilemma.