Reuters
Formula One F1 – Formula One – Azerbaijan Grand Prix – Baku City Circuit, Baku, Azerbaijan – June 3, 2021 Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc during the press conference Pool via REUTERS/Francois Nel
Reuters
Formula One F1 – Formula One – Azerbaijan Grand Prix – Baku City Circuit, Baku, Azerbaijan – June 3, 2021 Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc during the press conference Pool via REUTERS/Francois Nel
Charles Leclerc scored his first podium of the season after an impressive effort at the British Grand Prix. Although the Monegasque led the race for a majority of its duration, Lewis Hamilton snatched victory in the final laps at Silverstone.
During the race, the Ferrari driver struggled with a few engine issues, which hampered his progress in the race. At the post-race press conference, Leclerc spoke more about those issues.
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Charles Leclerc admits engine issues made him think his race was over
Leclerc looked exceptional all weekend at Silverstone, erasing memories of his disastrous French Grand Prix last month. While the Monegasque qualified P4 for the first sprint race in F1, he maintained that spot on the starting grid after finishing fourth on Saturday.
After Max Verstappen crashed out of the race due to contact with Hamilton, Leclerc sneaked past the Briton just before red flags came out. After the restart, the 23-year-old led the race on the back of impressive laps on medium tires. However, he struggled with engine issues during the race, which he made clear on the team radio.
During the post-race press conference, the Monegasque admitted those issues were the only blip in his race. He said, “I was really on it every lap. So I don’t think there is one lap where I did a big mistake – and especially in the first stint with problems we had with the engine, I thought my race was over.”
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Leclerc: We managed the situation well
While his race engineer needed him to make many adjustments, Leclerc believed the team handled the situation well.
Reuters
Formula One F1 – British Grand Prix – Silverstone Circuit, Silverstone, Britain – July 17, 2021 Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc during sprint qualifying REUTERS/Peter Cziborra
“I had quite a lot of things to do on the steering wheel but yeah, I think we managed the situation very, very well and we managed to diminish these engine cuts for the rest of the race,” he added.
Despite those issues, Leclerc came close to claiming Ferrari’s first race win since the 2019 Singapore Grand Prix. However, Hamilton’s pace proved too much for the Monegasque, which forced him to settle with P2 as his first podium finish in 2021.
However, with this podium, Ferrari continued to show encouraging signs after a disastrous 2020 season. Can Leclerc keep the momentum going heading into the Hungarian Grand Prix? Only time will tell.
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