The qualifying in Barcelona has turned out to be one of the most thrilling ones we’ve had in the season so far. From some drivers unexpectedly punching above their weight to some strong contenders shockingly crashing out prematurely, Saturday had all the drama. Sadly for the Tifosi, Charles Leclerc was in the latter category. The newest development coming out from the Ferrari garage has pulled him back further. That has left the Monegasque’s fans smelling a whiff of “sabotage”.

During the final moments of the Q1 session, Leclerc complained about there being “something off” with the rear of the car. As he was already struggling to make it out of Q1, he encountered some additional issues that made the car “underivable” in left-hand corners. Eventually, he not only failed to make it out of Q1 but also finished 2nd slowest on the grid.

Ferrari’s damage control pulling Charles Leclerc further back leaves fans furious

Leclerc was set to start the race from P19 but won’t anymore. In order to fix the issues he was encountering, the team has ended up changing the entire gearbox which will see Leclerc take a grid penalty. Resultantly, he will start the race from the pit lane.

Ferrari’s performance engineer Jock Clear on Sunday morning confirmed, “Obviously qualifying on the back row has given us the unfortunate opportunity to look at a lot of things and consider.”

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“He (Leclerc) was really uncomfortable with the car straight away in qualifying and had no confidence in the car. So we’ve taken the opportunity to change the gearbox. That’s effectively all the back end, really just to make sure there is nothing on there that is untoward.”

The Monegasque has already had a couple of DNFs and some unlucky crashes and penalties. Those coupled with yesterday’s incident and the latest update have left fans cooking up conspiracy theories. Take a look at some reactions from Twitter.

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In a way, Ferrari is making a smart move by making the most of the situation at hand. Leclerc was already going to start in P19. Why not start from the pit lane and give him an all-new gearbox? Perhaps this end up working out for the Monegasque.