Charles Leclerc puts on a masterclass
The seal of approval on the quality of Charles Leclerc‘s standard equipment has already been given on live global television by his race engineer Bryan Bozzi. But it is true that, steel attributes or not, the Suzuka weekend once again highlighted the ability of the 29-year-old Ferrari driver to throw his heart over the obstacle: thus, the Monegasque first beat Lewis Hamilton in a (small-scale) rematch of the wheel-to-wheel duel in Shanghai, only to then carefully and patiently fend off all attempted attacks from George Russell, strenuously defending third place at the finish of the Japanese GP.
The Ferrari driver’s account of the race
A solid performance, which leaves Charles Leclerc quite satisfied. This is what the Monegasque said to Sky at the end of the race, highlighting the proud reaction after the entry of the Safety Car which caused him to lose time and positions: “Today was a bit difficult with the pace, also because McLaren has also taken a step forward. It’s also true that we had a bit of bad luck with the Safety Car coming in at an unfavorable moment. But, in the end, these things happen and so I tried to use the anger I had for the neutralization of the race at the wrong time”.
“I wasn’t very confident – he adds – even though when the GP restarts and the visor closes, you always push to the maximum. With the Hard tires it is indeed a bit more difficult to bring them back up to temperature, but honestly it wasn’t that bad. Perhaps there would have been the possibility to do something more if I had stopped with the Safety Car, but a third place today is the kind of result I have to bring home while waiting to have, I hope, the best car one day”.
Hope from Miami onwards
The Ferrari driver therefore underlined the importance of the updates which, as also stated by Frederic Vasseur after qualifying, could overturn the balance of power: “At the moment, Mercedes is ahead and McLaren has also made an improvement step, but it will be a championship that will be won or lost with the quality of technical developments. Everyone back home is pushing to the maximum and, in Miami, like everyone else, we will have a fairly new car. It will be fundamental to start on the right foot from Miami onwards”. “Power unit? Yes, certainly the engine is the area where we struggle the most compared to Mercedes and there are no doubts, but it’s not just that,” concludes Charles Leclerc at the end of the Formula 1 weekend in Suzuka.
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