It’s a second position that leaves a bitter taste in the mouth that was achieved in Las Vegas by Charles Leclerc, who for a long time savored the real possibility of winning the Grand Prix with a competitive Ferrari. Starting from pole won on Saturday, after losing first position at the start due to overtaking at the limit in turn one by Max Verstappen, then penalized with a five-second sanction, the Reds driver began to find his pace, while still managing to keep the tires alive.
Precisely this aspect proved to be fundamental in the first stint because, if the Dutchman from Red Bull was forced to stop early, Leclerc instead managed to extend the overtaking process just a few moments before the three-time world champion returned to the box to mount the hard. Having also had to serve the penalty, Verstappen then rejoined the traffic, while the Ferrari driver in front stayed out longer to shorten the stint on the hard, in order to better balance the two parts of the race.
The Safety Car, which came in to clear the track of debris left by the accident between the Dutchman and George Russell, however changed plans. Having stopped a few laps before the entry of the safety car, Ferrari chose not to return, thus maintaining the set of hard tires mounted previously, unlike most of his opponents, who took advantage of the neutralization to mount another set of the toughest compound, including Verstappen.
Photo by: Jake Grant / Motorsport Images
Charles Leclerc, Ferrari SF-23, 2nd position, arrives at Parc Fermé
After the period spent behind the Safety Car, Leclerc immediately tried to pull away, but in the space of a few laps Sergio Perez managed to close the gap that had been created in the moments following the restart again. Verstappen himself also took advantage of this and, after overtaking Oscar Piastri and Pierre Gasly, then closed the gap to the top, completing the comeback by overtaking the Monegasque from Prancing Horse with just over ten laps to go.
At that point it was effectively impossible for Leclerc to keep up with the world champion, even being overtaken by Perez himself. If initially the Ferrari driver felt the pinch, finishing just under two seconds behind the Mexican, towards the end of the race he managed to catch up with the Red Bull standard bearer, recovering second position with a good breakaway on the last lap.
“What a race. Honestly, I had a lot of fun. I’m obviously disappointed to only finish second, but in the end it was the best we could do. At the start it was very difficult, because I think Max lost a bit of grip on the inside and took me to the outside. But then we had the right pace, we passed it again and we were very strong overall. So it was a really good race. We were a bit unlucky with the Safety Car. We didn’t pit because we didn’t know what the others would do. We were aiming for track position and maintaining first place. It was difficult with the older tires towards the end. But second place, with many battles, I honestly liked it,” said the Ferarrista.
“I’m obviously disappointed. I don’t like to talk about what ifs, and I never do, but I believe that without the Safety Car the victory was ours today. Having used tires after the Safety Car hurt us, because Red Bull had new tires “.
“Of course, the weekend didn’t start as it should have, but I’m happy that it ended like this. It’s an incredible sport. And I believe that today there was no better race in the first weekend in Las Vegas. The energy you feel in the city is incredible and it’s really happy, at least I had fun today. I’m sorry about second place. But on the other hand, I’m sure everyone had a great time watching the race. I really enjoyed it. And we will have to have other races like this”, added the Monegasque.
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