Ferrari left Leclerc in the dark regarding a major change in Imola

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Ferrari left Charles Leclerc unaware regarding engineer change for Imola
16 May at 19:30
Last update 16 May at 20:31
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  • Olly Darcy
  • Editor

Race engineer changes for drivers in Formula 1 are not very common. Race engineer changes for drivers in the middle of a season is a rarity. But that has happened, and it has happened at Ferrari. The Prancing Horse have changed race engineers for Charles Leclerc coming into the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, and it was only communicated to the Monegsque after the Miami Grand Prix that the change was happening.

Leclerc focuses on 'smooth transition' between engineers

Ferrari decided to move on from Leclerc's former engineer Xavier Marcos Padros, and the Spaniard will now be replaced by Bryan Bozzi, who was Leclerc's former performance engineer. However, although the Monegasque driver knows his new engineer well, the communication between the driver and the team was not the greatest, according to Leclerc.

"Obviously, it's very very tight at the front, and everything makes a difference. However, the decision was made between the team and Xavi. They've had other plans in mind, I guess, and it was communicated to me right after Miami," said Leclerc, who was left in the dark regarding his new engineer.

"I think communication has always been a big thing since we worked with Xavi, but we always try and communicate as much as possible, and this is the way I work to try and have the best picture overall. As I said, I think we'll focus on having the smoothest transition possible, and then we'll focus on the things that matter to us. But I don't think communication was a particular problem in the past."

However, Leclerc believes that the change in an engineer won't hinder his performance having worked with Bozzi before. "Brian is a person I have been working with since I arrived at Ferrari. He's always been my performance engineer, so he knows exactly how everything works, and it's not like I'm starting from zero and it's going to be a complete adaptation. It has been super smooth up to now, and I'm sure that it will continue that way and that will be at 100 per cent from this weekend."