Charles Leclerc releases 'frustration' in Ferrari meeting after 'crazy week'

Charles Leclerc believes airing "frustration" in a Ferrari meeting with team principal Fred Vasseur and team-mate Lewis Hamilton was "needed" at the end of what had been "a crazy week" for the Monégasque.

Thursday's meeting in São Paulo between the trio ahead of this weekend's grand prix at Interlagos was used to clear the air after the pair's on-track incident in Mexico City on Sunday.

The two Ferrari drivers made contact at Turn 4 on the opening lap of the Mexico City Grand Prix, running wide together before Leclerc rejoined ahead of his team-mate across the grass. It was the latest flashpoint between the two this year, after a similar first-lap dispute at Monza in September.

Leclerc took responsibility for the Monza collision and sat down with Hamilton to resolve it at the time. But the Mexico clash reopened old wounds, leading Hamilton to claim there were "big problems", and prompting Ferrari to schedule fresh internal talks.

Leclerc, who became a father for the first time in the days after the Mexico race, said the timing had made it difficult to address the matter sooner.

Speaking about Thursday's meeting, Leclerc said it was productive.

"It was really good to discuss all together," he said, speaking to media, including RacingNews365, following Friday practice.

"Obviously, for me, it's been a bit of a crazy week, and positively because I became a father for the first time, so we didn't necessarily have time to discuss.

"I think discussing whatever is left, or whatever frustration is left, was needed. Now I feel it's fully settled, and I don't think we should be speaking about it too much going forward."

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Leclerc - 'One of the worst Friday feelings'

While the atmosphere between the drivers appeared settled, Ferrari's Friday running in Brazil brought a fresh set of problems, with Hamilton finishing practice sixth and Leclerc seventh, and with both reporting a car that felt badly out of balance.

Leclerc did not hide his frustration with the SF-26's performance after FP2.

"It's been a very, very difficult Friday," he said. "The feeling was very poor inside the car, so we've got a lot of work to do, and probably more than other weekends; we need to change the car quite a lot from today to tomorrow. It just felt quite strange in a way, so lots of changes need to be made."

Asked where the problems lay, Leclerc explained that the issues went beyond Ferrari's known straight-line deficit against rivals such as Mercedes.

"We were losing in the straights, but I think the car in the corners just felt...probably one of the worst Friday feelings of the season," he remarked.

"So I think there's a lot to be found in the corners, more than on the straights, where we know we have a deficit, but normally we are very fast in the corners, and this was not the case."

Leclerc said he had identified potential fixes but was not certain they would be sufficient to turn things around before qualifying.

"I've got quite a lot of ideas on what to change, and I think there will be significant changes going into tomorrow," he said.

"Whether that will be enough [because] the issues we had were quite big, but there's no reason why we should struggle so much more on a track like this, so we need to find a solution."