Charles Leclerc: I enjoyed the fight

In Las Vegas, Charles Leclerc started from pole and hoped for victory, but only finished second…

Question: Charles, how do you feel after you’re done? The joy of passing Sergio on the last lap, or the disappointment of missing out on victory?
Charles Leclerc: I have mixed emotions. On the one hand, I am very satisfied with my performance. In this race we did our best, I fought from start to finish and finally I climbed to the second step of the podium.

On the other hand, I am of course disappointed because I think that without the safety car the victory would have been ours. I had a good first lap on the Medium, letting the tires warm up and feeling confident we would win when the safety car came out. Max and Sergio drove into the pits and I stayed on the track. The tires had cooled down and it was not easy to put them back into use in such cold weather. At that point we lost the race.

Q: Was there any temptation to pit for new hard tires during the second safety car?
Charles Leclerc: By then I had only done five laps on a new set of tires. I didn’t know how Max and Sergio would do behind me, but if I changed the tires and they didn’t, it would be difficult to get ahead of them. Now that I know the situation, I would also make a pit stop, but in retrospect that is always easy.

Question: How do you assess the situation in the first corner, when Max pushed you off the track?
Charles Leclerc: Max has already approached me and explained the situation. Obviously the five second penalty was deserved, but in such situations it is better for the FIA ​​​​to ask the driver to give back the position. If you drive first, it will be much easier to take care of your tires, which will give you an advantage.

Question: Charles, who previously worked with tires, was not Ferrari’s strong point. Are you satisfied with how things went this time?
Charles Leclerc: I am satisfied. But Las Vegas had unique circumstances, unlike anywhere else. The track was very cold, so instead of problems with tire overheating there were problems with granulation. Our problems are mainly related to the hot weather, so it will not be easy for us in Abu Dhabi.

Q: Tell us about overtaking Sergio at the end of the race…
Charles Leclerc: Essentially I only had one chance left, but I was confident that everything would work out. In addition, I remembered that a few laps before Sergio made a small mistake there, I saw that he was a little careful when braking.

On the penultimate lap I started charging the batteries to get ready for the final lap and everything turned out fine. I really enjoyed the fight.