Charles Leclerc

MAX VERSTAPPEN took victory at the Belgian Grand Prix as Ferrari's Charles Leclerc suffered another difficult weekend.

However, Leclerc was caught speeding in the pit lane and was handed a five-second penalty which dropped him behind Fernando Alonso to P6. The team then discovered the issue was down to a visor tear-off lodged in the brake duct. The Ferrari star was forced to pit at the end of lap three after smoke was seen from his front right tyre.

Charles Leclerc and Ferrari suffered another disappointing race in Belgium and drifted further from Red Bull and Max Verstappen.

They need to ensure that the team is fully focused and knows 101 percent what is going on throughout all sessions. Leclerc asked what he was supposed to do on those tyres. During the race, the drivers and team communicated to see what’s the best way forward. The track caused high degradation to the tyres and it was impossible for the teams to perform the race on a one-stop. When he was asked whether he’s still in the championship fight, Leclerc had no yes or no answer. Ferrari are desperate to take any point that they can have. Opposite to that, disaster struck again in Hungary with the drivers and team not being on the same page. He finished the race in fifth place and with no fastest lap as Verstappen’s Red Bull proved to be too quick to compete with today. Ferrari were pretty adamant that they are still in the championship run. That is why Leclerc performed another late pit stop, putting on the soft compound to try and earn it. Then I knew it was going to be a difficult race from that moment onward. He almost lost fifth place to the Spaniard who overtook him but Leclerc did well to gain his position once again.

Mattia Binotto has said the decision to pit Charles Leclerc for a fastest lap attempt was the "right call", despite costing them points...

It’s not sufficient for Charles to win all the races and finish ahead of him. That’s the point where we need to reflect. “Looking at the Drivers’ Championship, the gap to Max is very high. “In the end, it was the right choice. This was despite starting the race from 14th on the grid. It may happen, but I don’t think there are any risks in the operation that we shouldn’t stop for the fastest lap.” “Well done to Red Bull, they’ve been very very fast all weekend. They were also faster in Hungary, so it’s a couple of races where they’ve been faster.” In terms of Charles, it was the right choice.” We are looking at all the data. Leclerc came in at the end of Lap 42 to get a fresh set of soft tyres fitted to his F1-75, while running in fifth place. This was because he was clocked for speeding in the pitlane during that final stop – logging 81km/h in the 80 zone.

Charles Leclerc's race was impeded on the first lap at Spa after a tear-off strip from a visor found its way into one of the brake ducts of his Ferrari, ...

Not only did it result in Leclerc losing fifth place to Alonso, but he was also hit with a penalty for speeding in the pitlane, which Ferrari blamed on a sensor failure. "You need to be brave in F1," he said. Despite starting 14th due to a grid penalty, it was apparent after qualifying that Verstappen had the pace to win – and he did just that in dominant fashion. Asked about the possibility that his tear-off had impeded Leclerc’s car, Verstappen said: “I hope it's not mine. "There was an opportunity for us to get the fast lap and there was the margin on Fernando to stop and to try to go for it, I think was the right decision. And according to