F1: Leclerc says Ferrari situation 'not good' amid latest strategy debacle

One of the big stories during the action-packed British Grand Prix was Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc and his struggle with old hard tyres in the closing stages of the race. He had a comfortable lead at Silverstone, but ended up in fourth place after failing to come in for fresh tyres during a safety car period like the rest of the frontrunners.

The Monegasque was steadily opening up a gap ahead of his teammate, Carlos Sainz, before a safety car came out thanks to the retirement of Alpine's Esteban Ocon. Ferrari decided to call in Sainz for fresh soft tyres while keeping Leclerc out during the safety car period. However, Red Bull and Mercedes also decided to bring in Sergio Perez and Lewis Hamilton for fresh tyres in the same period, giving them the advantage against Leclerc at the restart.

True enough, Sainz passed his teammate quickly, and Leclerc had to defend with everything that he's got against both Perez and Hamilton. It was an intense final ten laps which put the Ferrari driver at risk of ending the race without any points if he had collided with the other drivers.

Over the team radio, he was obviously upset due to the pit strategy call. Earlier in the race, he had also been complaining about not being allowed to pass his teammate to build a gap when he clearly had the better pace. Needless to say, the team could have done Better to ensure a 1-2 finish.

"It's not good. I have to say that I feel like I'm showing that every race it's not affecting me too much. But I would rather not have these problems," said Leclerc, as quoted by BBC Sport.

Despite his disappointment, Leclerc is very happy for Sainz, who managed to finally secure his maiden Formula 1 victory. "As much as I am disappointed on my side, I don't think this should be a headline on what is an amazing first victory on Carlos," he said.

Indeed, after the race, after getting a small "pep talk" from team principal Mattia Binotto, Leclerc joined his teammate in celebrating the unforgettable victory. "It's a dream come true. Whenever you are a child, you dream of this moment, and especially with Ferrari. He needs to enjoy, it's his day, and hopefully next time it will be my day."

There is no doubt that Leclerc is genuinely happy for Sainz, but he won't soon forget that it was a missed opportunity to claw back more points against championship leader Max Verstappen. The Red Bull driver fell back from an early lead after getting debris stuck under his car, but Ferrari as a team failed to secure maximum points.

In the end, Leclerc only managed to slash six points from Verstappen's lead instead of 19. Verstappen is now ahead of him by 43 points instead of only 30.

It will likely make a huge difference in the championship race, and this is why Leclerc will surely have more conversations with the team about how they will avoid similar situations for the rest of the season.

A similar scenario robbed Leclerc of victory in Monaco earlier this year, which is something that is surely weighing on his mind. He started the season by opening up a sizable lead in the championship, but a series of bad strategy calls and engine failures has allowed Red Bull to dominate both championships.

Binotto feels they made the best decision at the time, and he may have convinced Leclerc but the team is still receiving a lot of criticism from pundits and the F1 community as a whole. "It is always easy to say we could have done differently, yes. We had once again a safety car at the wrong moment when we were comfortably leading the race. That's the point," he said, adding: "We thought that there was not sufficient gap to stop both of them because the second would have lost time and fallen back."

Now, with Mercedes also catching up, Ferrari will need to get their priorities straight, especially when it comes to giving their top contender the most possible points every race weekend.