After a disappointing qualifying run at Formula 1’s British Grand Prix, Charles Leclerc hinted at a mysterious problem with his Ferrari that has been bothering him in high-speed corners; it is now emerging that the problem is related to power steering.

Having made a mistake in qualifying and slipped to sixth position on the British GP grid, Leclerc launched an expletive-laden tirade on the team radio, slamming himself for his messy performance. After he had cooled down and addressed the media, however, Leclerc suggested there was also a gremlin with the SF-25 that has been hindering him while driving on the limit in high-speed corners, of which Silverstone features many.

“The issues we have are very specific. It’s not a balance issue, it’s not a grip issue,” Leclerc mysteriously said. “I don’t want to go into the detail, but it’s just something very weird that we’ve got to fight into the car. Especially when they are high speed, it makes it even more difficult. I hope we can resolve it. I cannot go into detail, I’m sorry.”

Leclerc did stress the issue only affected him in qualifying, when he needs to extract the absolute limit from the car, and not in race trim. As it is limited to high-speed corners, it would have affected him more at Silverstone than at a stop-start circuit like Montreal or at Monaco, where he fought for pole. Meanwhile, Hamilton said he didn’t struggle with it on this occasion, but he has in the past.

Team boss Fred Vasseur also stuck to Leclerc’s line and refused to divulge details: “He said also that he won’t disclose it. I have to stick to the team order, I won’t disclose it. It can be fixed, but it’s true that we are struggling with something.”

So, what’s behind Ferrari’s curious limitation? Motorsport.com understands the problem is related to the power steering system. Power steering reduces the effort needed to turn the steering wheel, especially during high-speed cornering where g-force is high.

Power steering made its debut in F1 in the first half of the 1990s, and over time the systems have become increasingly refined with the goal of transmitting the most natural feedback possible to the driver. In Ferrari’s case, the problem seems to emerge when drivers push hard in fast sections, where lateral Gs put a strain on the system.

At times when the drivers try to squeeze everything they can out of the car, that feeling becomes crucial, and even the slightest issue can make a difference to a driver’s confidence in the car and the smoothness of their inputs, which will obviously hurt lap times too.

So, while Leclerc was reluctant to provide information, his clear description of exactly when the problem manifests itself correlates with the explanation Motorsport.com has found, with it making his life difficult right when he is forced to push to the edge. It also explains why the limitation emerges only on certain tracks, such as Silverstone with the challenging Maggots-Becketts combination or on the high-speed Suzuka circuit.

In past years, the feeling conveyed by the power steering has been a problem for several drivers. Sebastian Vettel in 2021 complained for a long time about a lack of confidence with the Aston Martin because of the feeling provided by the power steering, and Fernando Alonso has also always spent a lot of time trying to find the perfect feeling with power steering for his driving style.

While not giving details about the anomaly, Leclerc did say the problem was at least solvable on the short to mid-term. “We’ve got some upgrades coming which will cure some particular issues, which I think will help us in some places,” Leclerc said. “We’ll try to fix them. It’s a bit of a shame.”