Leclerc wants answers as retirement dents F1 title chances

Charles Leclerc believes Ferrari must prioritise solving the problem which prematurely ended his Spanish Grand Prix, despite a strong show of pace across the weekend.

Leclerc looked set for a comfortable victory from pole position at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. However, mid-race power unit issues denied him a chance of extending the lead at the top of the Drivers' Championship.

Speaking after his race retirement, Leclerc was quick to compliment the performance of the car across the weekend, but admitted his concerns about the technical issue going forward.

"I don't know anything more other than what happened. I had no indications before and it just broke and then lost the power completely," Leclerc told Sky Sports F1.

"It's a shame. In those moments, I believe that there's nothing else I can do apart from looking at the positives, and there are plenty this weekend.

"There's the qualifying pace, the race pace and, most importantly, the tyre management, that has been a weakness [for Ferrari] in the last two races.

"So it gives me the confidence for the rest of the season but, on the other hand, we will look at this issue and we cannot afford for this to happen many times during the season, so we need to find the problem."

Leclerc not currently focusing on the championship

Leclerc added that he was not concerned about the risk of losing the championship lead as a result of his race retirement.

The retirement opened the door for his championship rivals to close the gap in the standings.

"The lead of the championship will go down to basically nothing, or maybe we will lose it, actually, but that's fine. I am not looking at it," said Leclerc.

"I think what is most important is the overall performance and, performance-wise, we are performing very well.

"I can't wait to go at home next week, and hopefully we'll have a great week."