Leclerc: I’m happy for Carlos, but disappointed with my result

Charles Leclerc had a good chance of winning at Silverstone, but unlike rivals, the Ferrari driver did not change Hard to Soft tires during the safety car on track. On a harder composition, the Monegask was unable to hold the lead after the restart.

The safety car favored Carlos Sainz – the Spaniard was one of those who took advantage of the new tires, overtaking a teammate and taking the first win of his career.

Carlos Sainz (1st): “I’m happy to be greeted by the fans in the stands, even though I fought for the win with Lewis Hamilton. It’s nice that my fellow riders congratulated me and said they were happy for me. It means a lot.

I hope the victory is just the beginning. We have already made progress and taken a few steps forward. Yes, they are small, but these are steps in the right direction. You have to understand why today there was no speed compared to training where I was the fastest.

I had understeer throughout the race, which put extra pressure on the front tires in fast corners. If we understand the reason, we can take another small step forward in Austria. I like that we are gradually making progress – we will see in what form we will approach the summer holidays.

Charles had a great race. We took 1st and 2nd place and I didn’t want to ruin the race for us – and I didn’t, exactly following the team’s instructions. Even when I caught up with him on the restart, I didn’t want to cause him any trouble. I knew Charles would have a hard time with those tires so I tried to make the overtaking as clean as possible so he wouldn’t lose any time. We have to analyze everything, but I think we did a great job.”

Charles Leclerc (4th): “In the last laps I stayed on the old set of tires while everyone switched to the new Soft. Because of this I had serious problems, but I did my best anyway. Of course I am disappointed with the result.

After the race Mattia (Binotto) came up to me to support me. The team and I have to evaluate the overall picture, while I evaluate the results of the race based on my own interests. Behind the wheel at the disposal of the rider there is no complete information about what is happening on the track.

It seemed to me that I lost a lot of time in the first segment of the race and at the beginning of the second segment, but this is just my opinion – maybe it will change when I see the global picture of how the race developed.

I don’t want to focus on my disappointment with the results of the race. Carlos took an incredible win – the first win is always special. Great result for the team and Carlos. In the last few races he gained confidence. I’m happy for him but disappointed with my result – I have mixed feelings, but I hope we come back stronger in the next race.”