Charles Leclerc has expressed his shock concerning 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 position throughout the staff, 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 Method 1 neighborhood.
Related shifts in race engineers throughout the staff 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 all the things makes a distinction.”
“Nonetheless, the choice was made between the staff and Xavi. They’ve had different plans in thoughts, I suppose, and it was communicated to me proper after Miami.
“However having stated that, Bryan, who will take the position of Xavi from now onwards, is an individual I’ve been working with since I arrived in Ferrari.
“He’s all the time been my efficiency engineer, so he is aware of precisely how all the things 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 easy till now, and I’m positive it would proceed that manner and we’ll be at our 100% already from this weekend. That’s all I can say.”
Amidst the restricted info concerning the engineer change, Ferrari staff 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, and so they have a really, superb technical collaboration. They charge one another very extremely.
“It was, I feel, the traditional step for Bryan additionally, and you realize that we’re in a sort of steady enchancment. We had been considering that Bryan was a step ahead for us and, on the finish of the day, we’re preventing for thousandths of a second.
“In case you have the sensation that you’ve got one thing a bit higher someplace, it’s all the time 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 automotive, and the expertise of the crew. He is aware of everyone within the staff and the difference shall be very simple.”
