Charles Leclerc said he pleaded with Ferrari to stay out on medium compound tyres while leading Sunday’s Hungarian Grand Prix before a pit-stop for hard tyres wrecked his victory hopes and claimed “there’s always something going wrong.”
The 24-year-old Monegasque driver, who finished sixth as Max Verstappen won to increase his championship lead to 80 points, said the decision had surprised him and cost him the race.
With only nine races to go after the scheduled summer break, it may also have cost him any hope of the drivers title.
Asked to explain why Ferrari had made the decision, he said: “I don’t know yet. I need to speak with the team and understand the thought behind putting the hards because I felt very strong on the mediums.
“Everything was under control and then, for some reason, I don’t know why, we need to go onto hards.
“I said on the radio I was very comfortable with the mediums and that I wanted to go as long as possible with those tyres because the feeling was good, but I don’t know why we took a different decision.”