Charles Leclerc tight-lipped on Ferrari problems as FP2 running wiped out

Charles Leclerc did not give much away on the confirmed Ferrari electrical issue which destroyed his FP2 session, but is confident that a fix is now in place.

Expectations have grown at Ferrari in recent weeks following the arrival of a major upgrade package at the Spanish GP, with Leclerc running Max Verstappen close in the fight for pole position in Austria last weekend.

Leclerc went on to claim the team’s second podium finish of the season with second place, having previously come third at the Azerbaijan GP in May.

Charles Leclerc plays no part in FP2 at British GP

The Monegasque had been classified fifth in the opening practice session at Silverstone with team-mate Carlos Sainz seventh, with Ferrari widely tipped to emerge as Red Bull’s closest challengers again this weekend.

However, Ferrari confirmed just minutes before FP2 that Leclerc would miss the start of the 60-minute session after his car developed an electrical problem, with mechanics later seen removing the engine cover in the garage.

Leclerc’s car was then captured up on stools in the garage with less than 25 minutes to go as Ferrari admitted defeat in their efforts to get him out on track.

Just three weeks after a Ferrari misjudgement saw him suffer an embarrassing Q2 exit in Canada, Leclerc has again been put at a major disadvantage ahead of Sunday’s race having lost the opportunity to conduct a long run in the most representative conditions.

He was, however, keen to avoid a negative tone as he spoke of a different ballgame on Saturday with rain expected to play a part.

He said: “There was a small problem on the car, I think the team has identified what went wrong.

“We’ve changed basically everything that was wrong on the car and it should be should be fine for tomorrow.

“An electrical issue, so it shouldn’t have any influence on our weekend apart from obviously the lack of kilometres and laps in FP2.

“That’s a bit unfortunate, because that’s normally where we prepare the race and Sunday seems to be dry, so we’ll go a little bit into the unknown there, but tomorrow should be very different with rain around.”

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赢面似乎证实法拉利的潜在posting a time good enough for second place in FP2, with a lap just 0.022s slower than Verstappen’s benchmark.

The Spaniard claimed his maiden F1 victory at Silverstone last year, overtaking Leclerc after a late Safety Car when his team-mate was left out on old tyres.

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