If not a car, then a strategy, if not a strategy, then a driver. It’s a bitter reality for Ferrari this season of the F1 World Championship, and its final chapter on Sunday, when Monaco’s Charles Leclerc made a fatal mistake that led to him losing his lead and pulling out of the French Grand Prix. Prize.

After fantasizing that the Italian club would win its first league title since 2007 after Leclerc led the overall standings by 46 points at the start of the season, the dream began to fade after losing that lead in three races.

Then things got even more complicated as the Monegasque native found himself 63 points behind Red Bull World Champion Max Verstappen after Sunday’s race at the Paul Ricard circuit in Le Castellet.

It looked like Leclerc was on track for his second win in a row and a return to title contention, retaining his first starting position and holding it until lap 18 before disaster struck after losing control of his red car. crashing into the safety wall, clearing the way for Verstappen to win and getting closer to the extra step. From retaining the title after leading by 63 points, with 10 rounds of 22 remaining.

The Tour de France disaster was not the first time the Italian team had missed out on an achievable victory this season, but it was the fifth of 12 stages taken, three of which were due to driver error and two due to a mistake in strategy and a mechanical failure.

Thus, instead of leading the drivers’ and constructors’ championships, the Italian team finds itself far from competing with Verstappen and Red Bull, losing 116 points through Leclerc and 62 points, according to the French newspaper L’Equipe. through his second Spanish rider Carlos Sainz.

– “We’ll go to Hungary… to take the first two places” –

And the emirate’s son made a driving error this season at Italy’s Imola circuit that saw him settle for sixth place while Verstappen won, but he is not solely responsible for the loss of points as he suffered two faults in the powertrain on the tracks in Barcelona and Baku, which led to his withdrawal, and because of his team’s wrong strategy in racing at Monaco and Silverstone, which prevented him from winning, and he was satisfied with fourth place.

On Sunday, Leclerc spoke about the problem with the gas pedal, recalling what happened to him in the last laps of the last race at the Austrian Red Bull Ring, when he had a pedal failure that almost prevented him from winning, but he kept on the gas pedal. led and finished ahead of Verstappen.

But team manager Matteo Binotto explained what really happened at Paul Ricard, revealing that Leclerc spoke during a conversation with the team about a problem he had after the crash when he tried to reverse the car.

“There was no problem with the throttle,” Binotto said. “It had nothing to do with what happened in Austria.”

He added: “What happened was Charles’ fault and things like this can happen naturally, I don’t think it detracts from his ability as a great driver. back from the barriers…”.

He said that the problem that occurred in the throttle during the race in Austria was solved, and “we have taken some measures to avoid this in the future.”

Binotto seemed optimistic despite the plight of his team, which had not won the Constructors’ Championship since 2008, despite the transition of great drivers on the Italian field such as two-time world champion Fernando Alonso, four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel of Germany or Finland’s Kimi Raikkonen. who was the last champion to be crowned in the colors of the Scuderia in 2007.

“We’ll be in Budapest next week (Hungarian Grand Prix) to turn the page,” Binotto said, adding that there were “reasons for optimism.”

“We will go to Hungary not only for the victory, but also for the first two places,” he added.