Despite finishing fourth, it has been a weekend to forget for Charles Leclerc. Climbing from P8 to P4 in the race, Leclerc‘s ‘Driver of the Day’ award meant little to the Monagasque driver. Instead, he believes if he is happy for such a finish, he might as well stay home and not race.

In the post-race interviews, Leclerc appeared to be quite disappointed with his performance. Going from P8 to a podium position only to have it taken away because of team orders from Frederic Vasseur and the rest of the team certainly has him unhappy. He went on to say, “I’m happy about that, but if we look at the entire weekend, if I’m happy with a 4th place then I should stay at home.” 

Despite his obvious struggles, Charles Leclerc vowed to make improvements. However, he needs to do it quickly. The gap with his teammate Sainz is down to 4 points. With an unknown variable of the Chinese GP coming in next, Leclerc has a lot of work to do.

Charles Leclerc is disheartened at Suzuka as Fred Vasseur and Co. celebrate Carlos Sainz’s podium

Saturday qualifying was demoralizing for Charles Leclerc, especially after finishing P8, nowhere close to championship leader Verstappen. While the race seemed to go positively, orders from Fred Vasseur and the team pushed Sainz to the final podium spot.

Arguably, losing out on the podium was not entirely on team orders. Carlos Sainz and the Ferrari pit wall chose the two-stop strategy. Leclerc on the other hand, favored the one-stop. While it did pay off in terms of getting past Lando Norris, it left Charles Leclerc open for attack from Sainz. The Spaniard boxed later, with fresher rubber greatly improving his general pace.

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This might just be the beginning of Leclerc’s worries. While Sainz is on his way out from the team, Leclerc will be up against Lewis Hamilton next season. A hardened veteran of the sport, going up against Hamilton in the same car may bring terrifying prospects for the Monagasque. As he mentioned today, if he sets his mind to it, bringing improvements to his skill is not difficult. The Chinese GP will be a good testing point to see how things turn out for Leclerc.

Helmut Marko: “[Carlos Sainz] Is Better Than [Charles] Leclerc”