Charles Leclerc has expressed his shock relating to the alternative of his longtime race engineer, Xavi Marcos, stating that he was unaware of any plans till Ferrari knowledgeable him of the change.
This revelation follows Ferrari’s current announcement that Marcos could be assuming a brand new function throughout the workforce, along with his duties as Leclerc’s engineer being taken over by Bryan Bozzi, Ferrari’s present efficiency engineer.
The choice by Ferrari to make such a change mid-season represents a departure from custom and is seen as a daring transfer throughout the System 1 neighborhood.
Related shifts in race engineers throughout the workforce throughout a season are uncommon, with the final notable occasion courting again to 2006 when Rob Smedley was appointed as Felipe Massa’s race engineer.
When pressed for insights into the reasoning behind the change and the potential implications, notably given the extreme competitors on the entrance of the F1 grid, Leclerc supplied little readability on the matter.
Talking at Imola on Thursday, the Monegasque driver acknowledged the tight nature of the competitors, stating, “Clearly it’s very, very tight within the entrance and every little thing makes a distinction.”
“Nonetheless, the choice was made between the workforce and Xavi. They’ve had different plans in thoughts, I suppose, and it was communicated to me proper after Miami.
“However having mentioned that, Bryan, who will take the function of Xavi from now onwards, is an individual I’ve been working with since I arrived in Ferrari.
“He’s at all times been my efficiency engineer, so he is aware of precisely how every little thing works. So, it’s not like I’m ranging from zero and it’s going to be a whole re-adaptation.
“It’s been tremendous clean till now, and I’m certain it can proceed that manner and we’ll be at our 100% already from this weekend. That’s all I can say.”
Amidst the restricted info relating to the engineer change, Ferrari workforce principal Fred Vasseur took the initiative to make clear the rationale behind the choice.
Vasseur clarified, “Bryan was there earlier than me. He was with Charles for a very long time, they usually have a really, excellent technical collaboration. They fee one another very extremely.
“It was, I feel, the traditional step for Bryan additionally, and you recognize that we’re in a sort of steady enchancment. We have been pondering that Bryan was a step ahead for us and, on the finish of the day, we’re combating for thousandths of a second.
“When you have the sensation that you’ve one thing a bit higher someplace, it’s at all times good to go for it and to not say, let’s keep like we’re.
“I’m actually satisfied that Bryan is excellent. He has expertise of the automobile, and the expertise of the crew. He is aware of everyone within the workforce and the variation will likely be very straightforward.”
