“I wish it was one step higher,” Charles Leclerc voices his discontent after finishing behind Max Verstappen in Ferrari’s home race
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Charles Leclerc
Charles Leclerc came into the Italian Grand Prix weekend all fired up as it was Ferrari’s home race. The sheer support for Charles from the Tifosi was immense with the Italian city being flooded with the team’s fans ahead of the race in Monza. Although it wasn’t all champagne and cheers for the Ferrari driver as race day was much more stressful than he had previously thought.
Having finished strong on Friday, Charles Leclerc aimed to do the same on Saturday wherein he managed to put his Ferrari on pole position for Sunday’s race sending the Tifosi into a massive uproar. Monza being Ferrari’s backyard was enough pressure already on Charles without having to thinking about the ongoing title battle between him and Max Verstappen.
In the race , Leclerc got a great start and managed to pull ahead but Max who had started in 7 was gaining on him. Ultimately after a bunch of pit stops to try out different strategies, Charles was 17 seconds behind Max with a fee laps remaining when a safety car was triggered.
McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo was the one who triggered it by stopping on the side of the track due to engine issues. The marshals tried to move his car away but weren’t able to do so because it was stuck in gear. Later a crane came and took it away. Although this did not happen in a a short time which resulted in the race ending under the Safety Car terming Max Verstappen as the winner of the Grand Prix.
This was a big blow for Charles Leclerc as his hopes of winning the race were washed down the drain. Here is what he has to say.
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“A podium in Monza is always very special,” Charles Leclerc in his post race interview
Charles further gave his analysis of the gruelling Italian Grand Prix. “A podium in Monza is always very special just that I wish it was one step higher. I think we were competitive on the soft but a bit less on the medium-hard. The surprise was Mercedes on the hard – they were extremely quick. Maybe we can learn something from them,” he said.
“Red Bull is the faster car, esp. in race pace. In qualifying, we’re faster. Mercedes seems faster in the race. Understanding tyre balance was the challenge & made it so difficult,” he continued.
The coming races will be all about when Max Verstappen wins the title with a possibility of Singapore or Suzuka being on the books. Even Charles Leclerc has seemed to have lost hope and doesn’t think that he can win the championship title at all this year. Although this won’t stop the driver from trying to score as many good results as possible this season to avoid any threat from the Mercedes boys.
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Varad Joshi
(940 Articles Published)