Charles Leclerc has revealed the costly error that lost him the victory at the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
The Ferrari driver, who had been leading the race, acknowledged the mistake that let him slide into second place behind McLaren’s Oscar Piastri.
“I think as soon as we put the hard tires on [I knew we couldn’t win],” Leclerc admitted, via Sky Sports F1.
Leclerc started the race strong, maintaining his lead into Turn 1 and initially showing promising pace on medium tires. However, as the race continued and he pitted for hard tires, he began to struggle.
“The medium tires felt good,” he explained, “but unfortunately we didn’t do any high fuel running on my side in FP1 and FP2 and we went for a setup direction that maybe in the race was a bit more difficult to manage.”
This setup issue became evident as he found it increasingly hard to manage the rear tires, a problem he feared might lead to a race-ending crash.
“Especially on the hard tires I was struggling to keep those rears and at the end I thought in one corner or two I could put it in the wall, it was very close,” he continued.
The Monegasque’s troubles didn’t go unnoticed by his rivals. The Australian Papaya driver capitalized on Leclerc’s struggles to secure his second-ever Grand Prix victory, and held him off for the remainder of the race in what was a brilliant show of wheelmanship.
“McLaren and Oscar have done an exceptional job and done better than us,” Leclerc admitted.
The race itself was an exciting one. The first lap was clean, but the Baku campaign quickly descended into a brilliant display of strategy and driving from the majority of the grid. Sergio Perez, the Red Bull driver who had been struggling so far this season, saw the race come together for him as he battled for a place on the podium. But a clash with Ferrari’s Carlos Sainz unfortunately saw his hopes dwindle as both cars hit the wall.
His teammate, Max Verstappen, fought with his own demons in his RB20 as he struggled, finishing in P5.
For Leclerc, this was a disappointing end to his race, but still good points for the team, especially with Sainz not finishing.
“I think maybe McLaren had less downforce and in the straights they were very quick. I couldn’t get as close as I wanted and eventually we lost the race when I didn’t defend as well as I could have at the end of the straight. Sometimes you make mistakes and I’ll learn from it,” he confessed.
This race served as a strong victory for McLaren, signalling a change in how the second half of the season may continue. With them now at the top of the Constructor’s Standings, they now fight to maintain their place.
2024 Azerbaijan Grand Prix Results
1. Oscar Piastri2. Charles Leclerc3. George Russell4. Lando Norris5. Max Verstappen6. Fernando Alonso7. Alex Albon8. Franco Colapinto9. Lewis Hamilton10. Ollie Bearman11. Nico Hulkenberg12. Pierre Gasly13. Daniel Ricciardo14. Zhou Guanyu15. Esteban Ocon16. Valtteri Bottas17. Carlos Sainz – DNF18. Sergio Perez – DNF19. Lance Stroll – DNF20. Yuki Tsunoda – DNF
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