Charles Leclerc says he didn’t really push in the second and third stints in F1 Azerbaijan GP after he was told by Ferrari that he cannot catch Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen.
Effectively, the qualifying crash already cost him a chance of podium in Azerbaijan GP, let alone a F1 grand prix victory, if it wasn’t to be a crazy race. He had to push through the field to get himself on the back of Ferrari teammate Sebastian Vettel in the first stint.
He did well to extend the stint but his work was undone after both the Mercedes were able to catch him along with Vettel and pass him on track. In hindsight, it seems like Ferrari left it too late to switch from mediums to soft but it wouldn’t have worked.
As Leclerc also pointed out, the mediums actually worked well for his rivals which they didn’t expect probably and towards the end, the performance was still there which meant the Monegasque decision to start on the mediums was nullified actually.
In addition, the race did not see any safety car period which further created a problem as they got no window to keep Leclerc on with the Top 4 drivers. While many pointed out the slow pace of Leclerc in the second stint but it was premeditated as per him.
“I actually asked if there is any possibility to come back [after my pit stop] and they told me no, so from that point onward, I wasn’t trying to push to catch them,” said Leclerc to the media. “I was just saving the tyres and do the fastest lap when I had the opportunity.
“That’s why the second and third stints were nowhere [from my end]. It was not because the pace was bad but we had no chance.” When asked if the delayed stop prevented him to remain on with the Top 4 drivers, he didn’t want to comment straightaway.
“I believe there is a reason for that but I need to look at the data first before making any comments,” he said. The team has a lot more data than I do. Overall, I felt that I lost a bit of time when Valtteri, Lewis and Seb passed me but we need to look into that.”
He pitted for the third time to take an extra point for the fastest lap but in totality, Leclerc felt that the win for Ferrari was possible had they got the qualifying correct, as he felt the pace was certainly there to remain in front if they started there.
“I think on the medium, we were very-very strong and if you look at the leaders, basically they did their longest stint on them, so I think it could have been a very positive race but to be honest there was nothing wrong with the car,” he said.
“It was just in qualifying…I won’t put down myself as I have already did enough…but I’ll learn from it to come back stronger. Obviously, the Azerbaijan GP hasn’t been ideal [for us] but mostly because the strategy cost us a bit.”
Here’s how the Azerbaijan GP panned out
Daniel Ricciardo says it was ‘urgency and panic’ in Baku incident