Charles Leclerc ‘hesitant’ to battle Lewis Hamilton at Copse

Charles Leclerc ‘hesitant’ to battle Lewis Hamilton at Copse

Charles Leclerc

The famous fast Copse corner gave the two most important moments of the British GP on Sunday. During the first lap, Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen engaged in a close battle, which sent Verstappen into the gravel, thus ending his race.

The second moment occurred during the latter stages of the race, when Lewis Hamilton surpassed Charles Leclerc to grab the lead for the win. The Ferrari driver led the race for all laps up to that point, before the Brit surpassed him.

Charles Leclerc admitted that he was a bit hesitant to battle Lewis Hamilton, fearing the same fate as Max Verstappen.

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“Honestly, yes, I saw a bit the remake of the first lap, that I was the first viewer behind those two,” Leclerc told Sky Italy.

“I didn’t want to take risks because we are not fighting obviously against Lewis for the Championship. I tried to stay ahead, the only thing that tricked me a bit was that at the exit of the corner I took a snap of the back and that took me off the track,” he added.

I gave my 200%: Charles Leclerc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aoa1ypGeWbI

Charles Leclerc admitted that it was a bit disheartening to not win the race, despite leading the British GP for over 50 laps. However, he stated that he gave his 200% and he could have done nothing more.

Furthermore, he added that Ferrari’s journey to the top is a long process, and will take much time. However, he believes that they are headed in the right direction at the moment.

“It’s difficult to enjoy 100%. Of course it was an incredible race. I gave not 100% but 200%, I gave all of me but it was just not enough in the last two laps. It was fun in the car but I lacked just a little bit of pace towards the end. We definitely did not expect it, we expected after qualifying to be quite competitive but not as competitive as now,” said Leclerc.

“We were fighting for the win, which was incredible, especially on the medium tyres we were extremely quick. Then on the hard tyres we lacked a bit of pace compared to the Mercedes, but overall it was much stronger than what we are used to,” he added.

“It’s great to have these type of races, it cheers up everyone. There’s a lot of work and it shows we are doing something right and working in the right direction. We need to keep going like this,” he concluded.

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