Charles Leclerc reveled in the speed of his Ferrari SF21 after the first F1 sprint at Silverstone and maintained his starting position P4 in the 17-lap encounter – which made the Monegas cautiously optimistic about entering the podium battle for the British Grand Prix on Sunday.
Leclerc managed to avoid all of the drama on lap 1 of the F1 sprint – unlike his teammate Carlos Sainz, who clashed with Williams’ George Russell and dropped back to P18 before moving to 11th, Valtteri Bottas’s third-placed Mercedes.
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“Even if it was a pretty lonely race, I enjoyed it,” said Leclerc afterwards. “It’s a little different to push so hard for 17 laps. I liked it very much and I’m looking forward to tomorrow.
“I see no reason why we will fight more tomorrow than we do today, except maybe when conditions change,” he added. “But it should go well. It will change for everyone and hopefully we will maintain this pace tomorrow. “
Charles Leclerc “surprised” at reaching Botta’s speed in the F1 sprint
Leclerc enjoyed two excellent races at Silverstone in 2020 and finished fourth in the Grand Prix for the 70th time. And he said that his goal for Sunday’s race is to be on the podium again this year.
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“The pace was very, very good today. I was more or less able to stay behind Valtteri by a reasonable margin for the whole race without him pulling back too much, so that’s good for tomorrow.
“I will definitely try to push for a podium,” added Leclerc, “but if we don’t manage the position at the start, it will be difficult to overtake on the track. So we absolutely have to try to position ourselves at the start without taking too much risk, because we’re not fighting Mercedes and Red Bull this year. But if an opportunity presents itself, I’ll take it. “
