Journalist says one team couldn’t work out what went wrong with their car in Spain

Follow us on Google Discover

Ferrari couldn’t work out the source of the problems with Charles Leclerc’s car in Barcelona during the Spanish Grand Prix.

That’s according to journalist Christian Menath speaking on the F1 Nation Podcast.

It was a very mixed Saturday at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya for Ferrari.

Charles Leclerc declared his Q1 effort as ‘unbelievable’ as he crashed out in 19^th place.

In stark contrast, Carlos Sainz managed to put his Ferrari on the front row of the grid alongside Max Verstappen.

Leclerc ended up starting the race from the pit lane due to changes made by Ferrari to fix the car’s problems in Barcelona.

There were several drivers that managed to put in brilliant efforts on Sunday to recover after struggling in qualifying.

Sergio Perez went from 11^th to fourth, while George Russell put his Mercedes on the podium from 12^th.

Leclerc could only climb to 11^th from his pit lane start as his season goes from bad to worse.

There was hope that Ferrari would finally challenge Red Bull at the front of the grid season.

Right now, they’re only going backwards with Aston Martin and Mercedes eyeing up second place in the Constructors’ Championship.

Ferrari couldn’t solve problems in Barcelona

Speaking about Leclerc’s issues, Menath said: “Ferrari cannot even explain it themselves.

“Charles [Leclerc] said he had quite a lot of problems in the left-hand corners.

“The problem is that it’s under parc ferme conditions so they weren’t allowed to work on the car during the night, so they didn’t have the time to do a proper analysis here at the track.

“That’s why they changed the whole rear end because then you take out a lot of elements out of the equation.

“In the end, they broke the parc ferme rules as well.

“They sorted it out, but Charles said it was a completely different feeling on Sunday.

“So, the problems he had in qualifying were not there anymore and then they have the time to analyse it properly in the factory.

“It has nothing to do with the upgrade, I don’t know if there was a crack in the gearbox casing or he didn’t have the strength in the rear suspension.

“Those cars, those rear ends are so complicated, so I understand that they want to do a proper analysis back in the factory.”

Ferrari will hope they can put their problems in Barcelona behind them in Canada in two weeks’ time.

Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclerc have driven well if not spectacularly.

However, the team haven’t delivered the car they would have expected before the season started.

Second place has to be the aim in the Constructors’ Championship by the end of the year.

Right now, they look a long way off that goal.