“He would have won the race comfortably,” Inaki Rueda anticipated a Charles Leclerc’s win over Max Verstappen in Baku

“He would have won the race comfortably,” Inaki Rueda anticipated a Charles Leclerc’s win over Max Verstappen in Baku

Inaki Rueda and Charles Leclerc

Inaki Rueda, sporting and strategy director of Scuderia Ferrari, hoped for a win on the streets of Baku from the Ferrari driver, Charles Leclerc if it was not for his engine blowing up and causing a DNF. It was a double DNF for the Italian powerhouse, with Carlos Sainz having hydraulic problems forcing him to retire. 

Charles went into the race day after acing a fantastic lap for the pole position, which no one expected him to do, considering the long straight helping the Red Bulls to build up a great margin. He lost his lead into Turn 1 of the first lap to Sergio Perez after locking up his front left from outside. Later his strategy got him his lead back after he pitted for hard tyres after the VSC got out for Sainz’s DNF. 

Inaki stated the pit they managed during the VSC would have taken Leclerc to his victory as the Bulls were losing a lot in Medium tyres. “Red Bull tried to continue on the medium tire as long as possible, but it quickly declined sharply. Perez lost a lot of time by just going through and staying in front of Leclerc.” said Inaki.

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Also Read: Charles Leclerc on being envious of Max Verstappen: ” I focus on becoming best version of myself”

Inaki Rueda’s explanation for the one-stop strategy

Ferrari
Charles Leclerc’s Ferrari after DNF

Inaki, after seeing the simulation said, both the team were equally matched on the street with a low downforce rear wing on Leclerc’s back helping him through the DRS zone. If the DNF never happened Leclerc would have crossed the line much before any of the Bulls did. 

“Our simulations show that without that retirement – and if there had not been another Virtual Safety Car – Leclerc would have won the race comfortably from Verstappen.” said Inaki.

But things didn’t go the Scuderia way and ultimately caused them a double DNF and hurt them more with Red Bull 1-2. Ferrari is now 80 points behind the Austrian team with a not-so-reliable engine to trust on.  

Also Read: Charles Leclerc dismisses Ferrari reliability woes: “I have faith in the team”

Also Read: Charles Leclerc does not want to give up yet: “I want to win the WDC”