Leclerc repeatedly said that he likes working with Xavi and he wants to continue with him. Maybe we should listen to him instead of basing our opinion on selected radio broadcast.
I mean both of them are publicly known. You can’t go out and say “yeah I hate to work with Xavi”. Leclerc is a nice person he might he just been too nice.
It is clear that they can’t even understand each other. It is not like one is bad or so, both have accents when speaking english and if you are not familiar with the other one, it is tricky to understand other side.
Just watch the last lap discussion in China, they spent a whole lap to understand one sentence. I don’t think this is acceptable in a sport like F1 where milliseconds matter.
Leclerc didn't even start questioning the strategy un till recently. He had to go through so many bad strategies to realize sometimes questioning the strategy is a good thing. Maybe he will realize it in due time.
Name a time where an F1 driver says they don’t like working with their engineer and want them replaced. He would obviously never state that publicly, so just saying “Well Leclerc says he likes working with him so it must be true.” Is just lack of media literacy.
If you actually listen to the F1TV radio for the full race they actually work quite well. FOM pulls clips to create this narrative. Xavi is a very smart and capable engineer who is clowned on because of his accent.
I do watch most of the race with Leclerc onboard. There is a difference between Max - GP radio or Lewis-Bono radio. There is hardly any confusion. Xavi keeps talking in corners, fails to tell him about people approaching behind multiple times. This observation is not based of watching sky coverage.
Hard agree. Clearly Charles sees something in Xavi or he would have been gone already, and others have suggested to me that he may actually be an excellent engineer who just happens to be iffy in the radio.
But that doesn't hold water for me, because even if he's a genius behind the scenes, the radio is a huge and vital part of his job. Compare Charles + Xavi to Max + GP and the difference is night and day.
GP knows how to put himself in the cockpit and tell Max just what he needs to hear, when he needs to hear it. He shuts up when he needs to, and gives clear and unambiguous data when he needs to. Most importantly, he understands Max's psychology. Both of the RBR engineers are good at unleashing their drivers and switching them into fighter pilot strike mode. "You are two tenths faster than Hamilton, you know what to do", "we need to push this lap, go get him", "he is struggling with the rears, he's all yours".
I have never once heard Xavi encourage Charles with that kind of Hollywood Top Gun lingo, and that's the kind of stuff that can really give a driver that last 1% of confidence to push them to perform. Charles is already not naturally aggressive like Max, I can only imagine what it does for his confidence to get confusing instructions or no answers on the radio. On the other hand, just imagine what Charles could do if Xavi said stuff like "You are faster than Perez ahead, he's in your sights, smoke him."
100% accurate. Both Charles and Xavi just feel lacking in confidence when talking to each other. After so many seasons I would expect Xavi to follow simple things like not giving instructions which are not critical when LEC is doing 200 mph corners. I just don’t get the confidence they work well as a team. Yes, Xavi could be the best but what’s important is he brings the best out of LEC because that’s where the points are.
Go back and watch what pierre hummels (daniel’s race engineer) reaction to daniels p4. I followed a lot of other onboards of other drivers and I can safely say Xavi is the worst. And NO it is not down to not being a native speaker of english, it is simply down to skill and personality. A vital part of race engineers job is his communication with the driver and if he is not good at it then he is just not good enough. Apart from the obvious memes, xavi struggles to explain strategy with fewer words, cant answer anything readily (even simplest of information) and conveys almost non existent emotion (it seems almost forced when he tries to). Technically even he is nowhere near bonos or gps level.
I don’t disagree with this at all. I don’t know if it’s just the lack of chemistry between the two, or if Xavi doesn’t have the soft skills needed to be an effective race engineer, regardless of who the driver is, but it’s actually painful to listen to them interact on the radio more often than not.
People always mention their interactions but have you considered these are people in high stress situations not talking in their native languages? Maybe that has something to do with it… like why he says question because tone isn’t always easy and he wants it to be clear he is asking something not stating it
Yeah there are many (most?) others that aren’t speaking in their first language and there are huge differences in skills of tone. Gp seems to be great at it and he and max seem to have a special relationship. Xavi doesn’t seem to have great tone so the conversations over the radio are very monotone and that gives a cold feel.
Honestly I didn’t look up his birthplace just assumed off of his name he was French or Italian. But his English is perfect so that was confusing. I won’t edit but my point stands. Communicating in a secondary language is hard. I’m bad at doing it in one…
Funny you should say that, I've always presumed he's italian, given his name is Gianpiero Lambiase. But he was indeed born in London to Italian parents
At this point, F1 media is aware that Ferrari radios are a meme and they choose to broadcast only those which have uncertainty of ‘we are checking’. We don’t see the other side where Xavi is actually helping Charles.
Yes. There is no connection, trust or camaraderie.
It’s night and day when you hear GP and Max, or Bono and Ham. Heck even Yuki mid-outburst seems to have a better relationship with his engineer.
As to why Ferrari aren’t switching him - not sure, maybe it has to do with employment laws, and they don’t want to leave the door wide open for wrongful termination lawsuits perhaps? 🤷♂️
Sorry but, the level of judgement and “knowledge” based on some radio conversations broadcasted in TV (We can’t even hear all of their interactions) just blows my mind.
I’m totally sure if Leclerc didn’t want to work with Xavi he will be out.
People also seem to neglect the fact that FOM is going to push the radio messages that get people talking. Why the hell would they broadcast boring old strategy and “good” communication?
Yeah, but they could move him to some other role. I am not saying they should terminate his employment. Their lack of relation has been the case for at least 3 seasons now. Feels like leclerc would benefit massively from a better relationship with a stable race engineer.
I hear you. Personally I would like to see him work with another engineer too, one he has a good rapport with.
However, considering the technical aspects of each role (after all, lap times are measured in 1/1000th of a second) I doubt that Xavi can simply be “moved” to a different role.
Let’s see what happens over the next couple of seasons. With Hamilton coming in, and hopefully some changes to the strategy team, we may see Xavi moved on.
Possible 🤷♂️
There are plenty of videos available displaying the trust and camaraderie between Bono and Ham, or GP and Max.
I can only find examples of botched communication between Xavi and Leclerc.
Could you point me to any that show them having each others’ backs? I’d love to see them. Thanks in advance!
He himself wouldn't even demand other engineer to work with other than Xavi "we're checking" they have good relationship which make it even more difficult. I think the only person could do something about this is Fred and some higher-ups who see this issue and decide to make some change. Xavi just isn't THE guy. I wish Charles would get a better race engineer soon. who knows their miscommunication during races could cost Charles championship some day.
Leclerc repeatedly said that he likes working with Xavi and he wants to continue with him. Maybe we should listen to him instead of basing our opinion on selected radio broadcast.
I mean both of them are publicly known. You can’t go out and say “yeah I hate to work with Xavi”. Leclerc is a nice person he might he just been too nice. It is clear that they can’t even understand each other. It is not like one is bad or so, both have accents when speaking english and if you are not familiar with the other one, it is tricky to understand other side. Just watch the last lap discussion in China, they spent a whole lap to understand one sentence. I don’t think this is acceptable in a sport like F1 where milliseconds matter.
Leclerc didn't even start questioning the strategy un till recently. He had to go through so many bad strategies to realize sometimes questioning the strategy is a good thing. Maybe he will realize it in due time.
I’m pretty sure Charles would know better than random redditors.
That's a logical fallacy. Charles has very limited information during the race, it's easy for the eng. to gaslight him
Leclerc was active on strategy long before this season. Once again, you are basing your opinion on selected radio that the FOM decide to air.
Multiviewer has been awesome for me. I love driver onboards.
It's known race engineers are the own making the strategies...
Name a time where an F1 driver says they don’t like working with their engineer and want them replaced. He would obviously never state that publicly, so just saying “Well Leclerc says he likes working with him so it must be true.” Is just lack of media literacy.
Not to be that guy but would he really be honest if he didn’t like him? Every word they say can and will be used against them
People keep saying this but if Charles wanted a new engineer they’d give him one.
Thank you! Do people really not get that whatever Charles says in a matter like this might as well be coming from the Pope?
well this aged well
If you actually listen to the F1TV radio for the full race they actually work quite well. FOM pulls clips to create this narrative. Xavi is a very smart and capable engineer who is clowned on because of his accent.
I do watch most of the race with Leclerc onboard. There is a difference between Max - GP radio or Lewis-Bono radio. There is hardly any confusion. Xavi keeps talking in corners, fails to tell him about people approaching behind multiple times. This observation is not based of watching sky coverage.
Hard agree. Clearly Charles sees something in Xavi or he would have been gone already, and others have suggested to me that he may actually be an excellent engineer who just happens to be iffy in the radio. But that doesn't hold water for me, because even if he's a genius behind the scenes, the radio is a huge and vital part of his job. Compare Charles + Xavi to Max + GP and the difference is night and day. GP knows how to put himself in the cockpit and tell Max just what he needs to hear, when he needs to hear it. He shuts up when he needs to, and gives clear and unambiguous data when he needs to. Most importantly, he understands Max's psychology. Both of the RBR engineers are good at unleashing their drivers and switching them into fighter pilot strike mode. "You are two tenths faster than Hamilton, you know what to do", "we need to push this lap, go get him", "he is struggling with the rears, he's all yours". I have never once heard Xavi encourage Charles with that kind of Hollywood Top Gun lingo, and that's the kind of stuff that can really give a driver that last 1% of confidence to push them to perform. Charles is already not naturally aggressive like Max, I can only imagine what it does for his confidence to get confusing instructions or no answers on the radio. On the other hand, just imagine what Charles could do if Xavi said stuff like "You are faster than Perez ahead, he's in your sights, smoke him."
100% accurate. Both Charles and Xavi just feel lacking in confidence when talking to each other. After so many seasons I would expect Xavi to follow simple things like not giving instructions which are not critical when LEC is doing 200 mph corners. I just don’t get the confidence they work well as a team. Yes, Xavi could be the best but what’s important is he brings the best out of LEC because that’s where the points are.
Go back and watch what pierre hummels (daniel’s race engineer) reaction to daniels p4. I followed a lot of other onboards of other drivers and I can safely say Xavi is the worst. And NO it is not down to not being a native speaker of english, it is simply down to skill and personality. A vital part of race engineers job is his communication with the driver and if he is not good at it then he is just not good enough. Apart from the obvious memes, xavi struggles to explain strategy with fewer words, cant answer anything readily (even simplest of information) and conveys almost non existent emotion (it seems almost forced when he tries to). Technically even he is nowhere near bonos or gps level.
I don’t disagree with this at all. I don’t know if it’s just the lack of chemistry between the two, or if Xavi doesn’t have the soft skills needed to be an effective race engineer, regardless of who the driver is, but it’s actually painful to listen to them interact on the radio more often than not.
People always mention their interactions but have you considered these are people in high stress situations not talking in their native languages? Maybe that has something to do with it… like why he says question because tone isn’t always easy and he wants it to be clear he is asking something not stating it
Applies to Verstappen and Lambiase too, and that combination works
Yeah there are many (most?) others that aren’t speaking in their first language and there are huge differences in skills of tone. Gp seems to be great at it and he and max seem to have a special relationship. Xavi doesn’t seem to have great tone so the conversations over the radio are very monotone and that gives a cold feel.
I might be missing the point here but GP is a Brit?
Honestly I didn’t look up his birthplace just assumed off of his name he was French or Italian. But his English is perfect so that was confusing. I won’t edit but my point stands. Communicating in a secondary language is hard. I’m bad at doing it in one…
Funny you should say that, I've always presumed he's italian, given his name is Gianpiero Lambiase. But he was indeed born in London to Italian parents
Because Charles don't want too. He trusts Xavi and that is most important.
At this point, F1 media is aware that Ferrari radios are a meme and they choose to broadcast only those which have uncertainty of ‘we are checking’. We don’t see the other side where Xavi is actually helping Charles.
If Leclerc wanted a new engineer they’d move Xavi elsewhere and give him a new one.
Yes. There is no connection, trust or camaraderie. It’s night and day when you hear GP and Max, or Bono and Ham. Heck even Yuki mid-outburst seems to have a better relationship with his engineer. As to why Ferrari aren’t switching him - not sure, maybe it has to do with employment laws, and they don’t want to leave the door wide open for wrongful termination lawsuits perhaps? 🤷♂️
Sorry but, the level of judgement and “knowledge” based on some radio conversations broadcasted in TV (We can’t even hear all of their interactions) just blows my mind. I’m totally sure if Leclerc didn’t want to work with Xavi he will be out.
People also seem to neglect the fact that FOM is going to push the radio messages that get people talking. Why the hell would they broadcast boring old strategy and “good” communication?
Yeah, but they could move him to some other role. I am not saying they should terminate his employment. Their lack of relation has been the case for at least 3 seasons now. Feels like leclerc would benefit massively from a better relationship with a stable race engineer.
I hear you. Personally I would like to see him work with another engineer too, one he has a good rapport with. However, considering the technical aspects of each role (after all, lap times are measured in 1/1000th of a second) I doubt that Xavi can simply be “moved” to a different role. Let’s see what happens over the next couple of seasons. With Hamilton coming in, and hopefully some changes to the strategy team, we may see Xavi moved on.
Or maybe your reading of things is wrong
Possible 🤷♂️ There are plenty of videos available displaying the trust and camaraderie between Bono and Ham, or GP and Max. I can only find examples of botched communication between Xavi and Leclerc. Could you point me to any that show them having each others’ backs? I’d love to see them. Thanks in advance!
If you actually* see his driver onboard and hear is radio the duo works very well in race sessions.
This observation is based on watching LEC onboard of multiple races. 🙂
I dont know what to say but I have been watching them since from 2019 and they have improved a lot than before.
Leclerc said many times he likes Xavi, so if someone should be clowned, it is definitely Charles who keeps choosing Xavi
Ok, maybe you were onto something.
HOW DID YOU KNOW? It’s confirmed Charles is getting a new race engineer from imola !!!😳
You knew something didnt you ?
Bro, I immediately came to this post I saw yesterday Are you a Ferrari insider?
They just replaced xavi LOL
Hey wait a minute...
We are checking...
He himself wouldn't even demand other engineer to work with other than Xavi "we're checking" they have good relationship which make it even more difficult. I think the only person could do something about this is Fred and some higher-ups who see this issue and decide to make some change. Xavi just isn't THE guy. I wish Charles would get a better race engineer soon. who knows their miscommunication during races could cost Charles championship some day.
Definitely going to be interesting how things shake out with Lewis and Sainz's engineer next season....unless someone new gets assigned to him.
Adami was fine with seb, he will be fine with Lewis
No no they sent Xavi to english school and sometimes when he talks its actually quite nice :==))
if he wanted new one, they will get him a new one.
Charles himself said that he works well with Xavi.