Charles Leclerc pained by 'complete disaster' Ferrari in wet weather 'coin flip'

Charles Leclerc has described his Ferrari car as a "complete disaster" to drive in wet weather conditions after a challenging Sao Paulo Grand Prix.

The Monegasque driver started Sunday's race from 13th on the grid due to an engine-related grid penalty, while team-mate Lewis Hamilton was 20th, demoted for a similar infringement.

While Hamilton made strong gains in the opening stages, Leclerc could not progress forward in a similar fashion.

Leclerc noted that he was struggling to get his tyres up to temperature, which stagnated his progress.

"The execution was okay, but the pace in the first stint was horrendous," he said.

"Particularly at the start, we had so much struggle getting those tyres up to temperature, it's unbelievable.

"It's just undrivable. Lewis definitely found a way because he had an incredible start, but for me, it was just like driving on ice.

"Later on, I had the pace but we had very little free air, and we also lost a lot of time in the straights."

"The first stint was very poor, the second stint on the soft was actually pretty good. But not much free air.

"At the end, by being patient and making the right choice, we ended up in P7 behind the top three teams."

[Article continues below]

Although Leclerc crossed the line in seventh place, he was demoted to eighth after being served a five-second time penalty for a collision with Liam Lawson.

While it cost Ferrari and Leclerc two points, it made little difference in the fight for the constructors' championship, which was sealed by Mercedes.

Leclerc called on Ferrari to take a deep dive into its wet-weather woes going forward as he highlighted the frustrations he felt behind the wheel.

"There is so much to learn," he said. "For qualifying, there are things we can learn from and do better.

"For [the race], and still in qualifying, I felt like we are going into the rain and it's like a coin flip.

"Maybe we end up on the right side of things, or we end up on the [wrong side].

"It's just a complete disaster to drive. We've got a lot of work to do on that side."