Ferrari: Leclerc crashes 'reflect mindset'; won't tell him to 'calm down'
Ferrari believe that Charles Leclerc's twin Formula 1 crashes over the Miami Grand Prix reflect his "mindset" of being behind Red Bull, but insist that they won't tell him to "calm down".
Leclerc crashed twice during the recent race weekend in Miami, once in FP2 and the other in Q3 which brought about an early end to the session.
He went nose-first into the barriers during the practice incident when trying to navigate the fast-sweeping Sector 1 at Turns 6/7, but hit the rear of the car at Turn 6 in the bigger qualifying shunt.
In the race, Leclerc could only manage seventh place as he struggled early in the race, getting caught in a DRS train.
And Senior Performance Engineer Jock Clear believes the crashes were legacy of Leclerc trying to out-drive the car.
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Clear's view of Leclerc crashes
"In some ways, this may be a reflection of his mindset when he is up against a car that is demonstrably quicker than him [like the Red Bull]," Clear told media, including RacingNews365.
"It's a sort of: 'I'm just going to have the make the difference myself' [and] of course, physics ultimately catches you out.
"We're not going to say to him: 'Look, calm down, Charles.' Over the course of year, his qualifying is outstanding [and] that puts him in a very strong position for a lot of races.
"I think he smelled the opportunity for another Pole Position, to be honest, and maybe he just got ahead of himself."
Could upgrade have caused crash?
Clear also believed that the new Ferrari floor upgrades brought to Miami could have had a part to play in the second crash for Leclerc.
The upgrade tweaked the front and middle of the floor, with the diffuser geometry also changed in an attempt to control and manage airflow going into the diffuser - thus creating more rear downforce.
"It gives the driver a more consistent balance through medium-speed, high-speed, low-speed, and of course, braking and entry and then exit," Clear said when describing the new upgrade.
"Maybe what happened [in Qualifying] with Charles is actually a testament to that, he was really going for it in those high-speed Turns 4-6 curves."
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