Charles Leclerc slams Ferrari on radio: "Leave me alone"

Charles Leclerc in the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa took an 8217;excellent third position, behind only the McLarens of Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris but also resisting for the entire race the’bulky presence behind him of Max Verstappen. The Red Bull’s Dutchman was never able to seriously challenge him, but he came dangerously close to the Monegasque in the race finale. And on that very occasion from the SF-25 number 16 came a dry protest aimed at the Ferrari race wall.

The whole thing occurred after a slight mistake by Leclerc at the Bus Stop chicane, which cost him a slowdown of almost a second and allowed Verstappen to bring himself even closer to his Ferrari than the two full seconds that had separated the two cars for the Belgian Grand Prix in its near entirety. And just at this point came a spat between the Ferrari driver and his engineer, Bryan Bozzi, that was broadcast live on Formula 1 and went around the world.

“Verstappen is now 1.2 seconds behind” Bozzi pointed out in his radio message to Leclerc. Vibrant was the driver’s response intended for the Ferrari box: “Please leave me alone. I can’t get any information, and then when he is closer you give me too much. Stay calm, and do not worry”. A direct message, which to Formula 1 fans can only evoke the famous “Just leave me alone, I know what I am doing” that Kimi Raikkonen addressed to the Lotus wall at the 2012 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, which then just the Finnish driver would even win.

A tense moment, however, which Leclerc himself decided to address at the end of the race, thus avoiding mounting a case. “That was a very high-pressure moment. If I had missed by even a few centimeters there would have been the risk of a colossal mistake. So I told Bryan to leave me quiet, but he always tries to give me information. It’s just that there are times when I need it and other times when I don’t. I just wanted him to know it”.