F1 | Leclerc: “I realised I had lost when I put on the Hards”

5 pole positions and with considerable margins, but zero victories. The curse – if we can call it that – of Charles Leclerc in Baku continues.

The Monegasque Ferrari driver in fact finished the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in second place behind the uncatchable Oscar Piastri, who proved to be much stronger on the Hard tyres, while in the first stint on the Mediums it was the Ferrari number 16 that dictated the law.

A very realistic snapshot of the race was offered by Leclerc himself at the end of the race, to the microphones of Guenther Steiner.

“As soon as we put on the hard tyres I realised that I wouldn’t be able to win. On the medium tyres we were very competitive, we were strong. Then unfortunately in Free Practice 1 and 2 we couldn’t try the race simulation, so perhaps we made choices that during the race led me to have difficulty managing the tyres. Above all I struggled with the hard tyres. Even in the last 2 laps, on a couple of occasions, I thought I would end up in the wall. And I came very close”.

Leclerc arrived in the last 3 laps with his rear tires literally finished. The Monegasque had to defend himself from the attacks of Sergio Perez and he did it admirably. Once pushed back, the Mexican then had to defend himself from Carlos Sainz and the two collided on the penultimate lap.

“Second today is good, McLaren did a better job than us, it was exceptional. It’s really a shame what happened to Carlos, the accident on the last lap, but I hope everyone is OK. Obviously it’s not a great day for the team.”

Ferrari has been back to fighting consistently for the top positions and for the win for the last two races. Leclerc is happy with the current situation, but today McLaren chose a very light set-up that made the difference, because on the straights Charles was never able to gain enough to reach the braking point of turn 1 paired with Piastri.

“It’s nice to fight for the win, of course, because it means you have a lot of opportunities. I think McLaren had less downforce than us, because they were very quick on the straights, while we were slightly quicker in the corners.”

“When Oscar overtook me I was calm. I thought I just had to manage a bit and wait for the right moment to get back in front. But then, in reality it was more difficult than I thought because on the straight I couldn’t get as close as I wanted to to try to overtake. To be honest we lost the race because I couldn’t get as close as I wanted at the end of the straight. But that’s how it went.”