Charles Leclerc: Ferrari needs to take cues from Red Bull to enhance its F1 race tactics

The topic of Ferrari and its race strategies has been a persistent discussion, as while they often make the right call, there have been numerous instances where they haven’t, with the repercussions felt more acutely at F1’s top team.

In contrast, Red Bull operates with remarkable efficiency, spearheaded by chief strategist Hannah Schmitz, and Verstappen claimed his 72nd grand prix victory in Sepang after starting from pole position.

“I was in agreement with the team,” Leclerc stated. “It was a tight decision, as it always is in these conditions, and we’ll discuss whether splitting the cars in such situations is the most effective approach.

Charles Leclerc, Ferrari

“But it’s also true that when you split the cars, by definition, one decision is very wrong and the other is very right, making it challenging to have a scenario where both outcomes are equally favorable.

“We believed we were making the right choice, but clearly there’s one team in particular – Red Bull – that frequently gets it right with both cars.

“For that, we need to understand what they are doing better than we do.”

Ferrari was among six teams that began on slick tyres, yet only they and Alpine chose not to split strategies between their drivers, with Pierre Gasly and Franco Colapinto also on softs.

This was one of those challenging situations where rain had fallen but the track was beginning to dry, and by lap 13, the remaining grid had switched from intermediates for the rest of the race.

“It’s very tough; it was the same for everyone,” Leclerc added. “I believe even though we had some data supporting us, it pertained to conditions quite different from those we faced today.

“So, it was based on intuition and observing the ground, and the surface seemed quite dry.

Sepang race start

“The main question we faced was how much water was left in the tarmac’s depressions, and there was significantly more water than most anticipated, which is why the slicks turned out to be the wrong choice.”

Hamilton and Leclerc ultimately managed to recover to third and fourth, although this was aided by George Russell retiring with five laps remaining due to a power unit failure on his Mercedes.

“Our final result is fairly indicative of where we aimed to finish,” Leclerc remarked. “Kimi [Antonelli] and Max were simply too strong for us today, and we ended up finishing P3, P4.

“However, it was an unusual race. I think everything that could have gone wrong in the first part did, and everything that could have gone right in the second part did.

“Ultimately, both extremes balanced out, and we finished where we should have. But it was a bit more intense than I would have preferred.”