Charles Leclerc’s last victory in a Sprint Race dates back to 2017 when the Monegasque, fresh Formula 2 champion, raced with the PREMA team colors. Today the Ferrari driver came close to winning the first Sprint success in Formula 1 after a perfect start, but in the final, thanks to an unexpected graining on the front right, he had to surrender to Verstappen’s comeback.
Leclerc, as mentioned, started like a spring from the second box and took advantage of the uncertainty at the start of the Red Bull world champion to immediately take the first position.
Charles immediately tried to create a safety gap on the Dutchman to get out of the DRS zone and managed to get up to 1 ” 4 of the margin on Max. Everything seemed to play in favor of Ferrari number 16, but with a few laps to go the hopes of success, and of conquering the pole for tomorrow’s race, have vanished.
The advantage over Verstappen began to collapse lap after lap and in the penultimate lap the Red Bull driver, thanks to a better top speed and the help of the DRS, overtook Leclerc with a nice maneuver at the Tamburello.
“Unfortunately in the end we suffered a lot with the graining on the front right. It is something that we will have to analyze tonight in view of tomorrow’s race ”. These were the first words of a Leclerc who was certainly less disappointed than what we saw yesterday at the end of qualifying.
Max Verstappen, Red Bull Racing RB18, passes Charles Leclerc, Ferrari F1-75, and takes the lead in the Sprint Race
Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images
Charles then explained the strategy adopted today. The Monegasque admitted that he pushed hard at the start of the race to avoid giving the DRS assist to Verstappen, but he probably asked too much of his tires which did not hold up for all 21 laps scheduled.
“At first I tried to break away from Max because I knew I would be very vulnerable if he stayed in the DRS area. In the end, I paid the price. It was still a good race, I gave everything. I hope to make up for it tomorrow “.
Despite the disappointment due to a pole position one lap from the end, Leclerc tried to look at the glass as half full. For the Monegasque, the experience accumulated today on the track will be invaluable in analyzing the data and trying to be ready for the big spoils at stake for the GP.
“Today we have accused this graining and it is important to know that it occurred in these conditions. It wasn’t something we expected ”.
“Tomorrow we have to see not only how the start will go, but also how long the hard races will last. It is possible that we will do fewer laps on the soft than today and we will stop earlier for the break. At the moment we don’t have any answers yet, but today’s data will help us make the right decision ”.
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