Charles Leclerc responds to Xavi’s shock exit amidst reports of flashpoints and tension

Charles Leclerc on the grid

Butting heads with Xavi Marcos, Charles Leclerc has quashed speculation of a falling out as he wished his out-going race engineer good luck for the future.

In a year of surprise announcements, Ferrari pulled off another on Thursday when the Scuderia announced that Leclerc’s long-time race engineer Marcos would no longer be the voice in the Monégasque driver’s ear on Grand Prix weekends.

Xavi Marcos has stepped down from his race engineer role with immediate effect

Stepping down from his role as Leclerc’s race engineer with immediate effect, Marcos will instead take up a new position within Ferrari.

“Organisational update,” read the team’s brief statement. “Ferrari announces that, as of Monday 13 May, Xavi Marcos will bring his valuable experience gained as a race engineer with the Formula 1 team to the development of other important company programmes.”

Leclerc will instead be guided by his current performance engineer Bryan Bozzi as of the next Grand Prix in Imola.

While the decision came as a surprise, it has since been noted that Leclerc and Marcos have had a few flashpoints in recent times.

Charles Leclerc’s stats against Carlos Sainz in 2024

👉 F1 2024: Head-to-head qualifying record between team-mates

👉 F1 2024: Head-to-head race statistics between team-mates

After a wretched 2022 championship when strategy errors blighted Leclerc’s campaign, there was a notable improvement last season but that doesn’t mean there weren’t still niggles.

La Repubblica’s Alessandra Retico claims Marcos’ exit “was not entirely unexpected.

“Although more than a few times in recent years, but also in the last race in Miami, the race management had not entirely satisfied Leclerc.

“And it seems that there had been some nervousness between the two, like when last year in Austin he punched the steering wheel and helmet out of frustration at hearing a call from Marcos about track limits. Although the Spaniard was referring to Max Verstappen’s time being cancelled due to a violation.

“This year, in China, there was a misunderstanding between them when Marcos suggested Leclerc go back to his ‘original’ line in a certain part of the Shanghai track ‘for comparison’. Leclerc reacted with some bewilderment, not understanding what was being asked of him.”

“What the hell does that mean?” said an irate Leclerc. Marcos replied: “Just forget it!”

Despite the speculation, the five-time Grand Prix winner took to social media to wish Marcos “good luck” for the future.

“So many years working together,” he wrote on Instagram, “my first pole, my first win as well as my first year in Ferrari was alongside you and you always got the better out of me by pushing so hard no matter the situation we were in.

“Thank you for everything and good luck for your new adventures in the future.”