Overtaking and fun
Disappointed but amused. This could summarize the state of mind of Charles Leclerc at the end of the Chinese GP, which saw him cross the finish line in fourth position after being the protagonist of a long and spectacular battle with teammate Lewis Hamilton for the third step of the podium. The Monegasque seemed to have emerged as the winner of the red derby, but a braking error at turn 14 forced him to slip back behind his teammate. After that error, Leclerc lost pace and was no longer able to get back in front of Ferrari #44. With great honesty and sportsmanship, however, in the post-race interviews, Leclerc did not complain and instead gave credit to Hamilton for his first podium in red, uttering words that will surely have also pleased F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali.
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Well done Lewis. And F1 approved
In fact, Leclerc gave these new single-seaters full marks for their behavior in the race: “I really enjoyed myself – Leclerc commented while speaking with journalists present in China – I don’t know if, if you asked the team, they would answer you the same way – he then added with a joke – but I really enjoyed myself. Honestly, these cars in the race are really quite fun. And yes, it was a really good race. In the end, however, Lewis was simply stronger. I’m happy for this podium of his. Obviously, I’m disappointed to have lost the podium myself, but I know I gave everything and in the end Lewis was simply stronger this weekend. I believe he is a driver you can really trust when battling against him”.
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Fair challenge
“I think it was a very fair battle – the Ferrari driver explained further – tough but fair, and it was nice. And then there are also many tactics to implement from inside the cockpit that are fantastic. Of course, there are still some overtakes where it’s all a bit artificial – Leclerc acknowledged – every time someone makes a mistake with the battery and drains it completely, a huge speed deficit is created. But it seems to me that we are all converging a bit towards the awareness of where we shouldn’t go and where instead we can try to take risks and this creates very interesting overtaking points. With these cars, moreover, it’s a bit easier to overtake on the outside – concluded #16 – they are no longer those cars with very high aerodynamic load that we had in the past. However, there are some aspects that we obviously need to evaluate to make everything a bit more ‘F1-like’ in qualifying, because I have the impression that we are still missing something, but I know that the FIA is working on it and I hope we will find a solution”.
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