Ferrari recent form 'worse than a nightmare' – Leclerc

Charles Leclerc has conceded that his and Ferrari's recent form has been "worse than a nightmare", following last weekend's British Grand Prix. 

Since heroically winning the Monaco Grand Prix – his home race – everything has gone wrong for the Monegasque. 

He retired in Canada, finished fifth in Spain, missed out on a point in P11 in Austria after opening lap damage and then finished 14th at Silverstone. 

Leclerc's recent results have been a combination of slow pace, car issues and, most recently, questionable strategies. In Silverstone, Leclerc started in 11th, but his race was effectively over on lap 20 after working his way into the points.

Ferrari blinked first and pitted Leclerc for intermediate tyres when rain started to fall; however, the circuit remained too dry for the compound. As a result, the 26-year-old burnt through his tyres and was lapped by the leaders. 

"It's very hard, I don't really know how else to explain it," Leclerc told select media including RacingNews365. 

"But it's been four races that it's been worse than a nightmare. I hope we can come back soon."

Leclerc was visibly downbeat following the latest disastrous race. Ferrari's recent struggles all started in Canada, although an upgrades package for the Spanish GP seems to have created more problems. Most notably, bouncing has returned. 

Overall, it is tough for Leclerc to focus on positives.

"It's very difficult to look at the positives, I just want to go back with the team and analyse the way we are making those decisions on my side and why we were on the wrong side."

Strategic blunder

Leclerc was not the only big name driver to pit on lap 20/52 for intermediate tyres, as Red Bull attempted the same gamble with Sergio Perez. 

Ultimately, it had the same negative impact on the Mexican driver's race. Ferrari has a notorious recent past of getting strategies horribly wrong, but appeared to turn a corner in the opening rounds of this season. 

However, since the Canadian GP, costly errors are once again being made by the Maranello-based outfit's strategists. 

In Leclerc's mind, there is no doubting the lap he pitted for intermediate tyres was completely incorrect.

"Clearly the wrong one," Leclerc conceded. "I'll look back into the decision. 

"With the message I got and the information I had in the car, I felt like it was the right one, it was raining. 

"I was told that on this lap, the rain was going to be very heavy. So I stopped to try and anticipate it. However, the rain came eight or nine laps later. 

"That was, obviously, the end of our race. It was very frustrating, another weekend to forget and it starts to be a lot."