As Charles Leclerc entered the pit lane for the second time during the Hungarian Grand Prix, it looked like a podium was on the cards for him at the very least.

However, after a couple of laps on his new set of hard tyres, it became clear that Leclerc was suffering from a sudden loss of pace in his Ferrari SF-25.

The Monegasque driver was furious with his team over the radio, something that has become common in the dynamic between the driver and his race engineer.

Leclerc’s muted reaction in the media pen has seen a pattern emerge with the driver being critical over the radio to later retract his statements when talking to the press afterwards.

Fred Vasseur dodged a question about why Charles Leclerc wasn’t told of his issues during Hungarian GP

Speaking in a RacingNews365 fan Q&A, F1 journalist Ian Parkes revealed that Fred Vasseur dodged a question of his after the conclusion of the Hungarian GP, which was related to Ferrari’s handling of a furious Leclerc. Parkes said, “Both Charles and Fred said that it was actually chassis damage to the car.

“I asked Fred in his post-Grand Prix press conference, if they knew there was chassis damage, why was that not conveyed to Charles during that final stint to allay some of the angst and fury that quite clearly Charles was displaying in the cockpit of his car at various times with his radio messages.

“Fred kind of evaded the question a little bit and just said there was something going on with the car that needs to be investigated by the team once they get it back to the factory at Maranello.”

George Russell shared his own theory on Leclerc’s sudden loss of pace in Hungary, theorising that Ferrari purposely lowered the Monegasque’s car and had to raise tyre pressures for the plank underneath the SF-25 to meet the minimum requirements after the race.

Charles Leclerc suffered in the Hungarian Grand Prix after a dream start to the weekend

The Hungarian GP weekend started on a positive note after the announcement of Vasseur’s contract extension with Ferrari on Thursday morning. The Frenchman signed a multi-year deal with the team following his appointment to lead Ferrari in 2023.

Leclerc’s weekend was also heading in a very positive direction after his surprise pole position in Saturday’s qualifying session. The Monegasque stunned Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri to snatch P1 on the grid with his last-gasp effort in Q3.

Lewis Hamilton struggled for the majority of the weekend at a track where he has won eight times in the past. Hamilton made a statement after the race, sharing that Ferrari needs to get rid of him, in which Jean Alesi noted that Michael Schumacher would never have made such a comment.

Hamilton now has just six races to grab a podium in Ferrari colours if he doesn’t want to etch his name alongside an unwanted team record of the most races without standing on the podium.