Charles Leclerc’s fourth place in the US Grand Prix was a letter of intent from Ferrari as he admitted he had a podium in mind in the second half of the race.
After the fifth qualifying, Leclerc was promoted to fourth place by a starting penalty for Valtteri Bottas and held this position for the first few laps. When he duly retired from Daniel Ricciardo, Leclerc began to focus on Sergio Perez in front of him in third, feeling that he had the pace to put pressure on the Red Bull.
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“A very, very good race,” said Leclerc. “A very boring race on my side, but on the other hand it was a very positive race for us. I mean the performance was amazing today and it’s great to see it on a track where we didn’t expect to be that fast. So a great surprise. I think all of the upgrades are working the way we want them to and it looks good for the future so hopefully we can keep that momentum going for the rest of the season.
“The performance was just very, very good and I could see Sergio in front of me – just 10 seconds ahead – and actually we were a bit faster than them in the last two stints, so I thought about the podium, but we just didn’t have it completely done. “
P4 Leclerc satisfied with a “very, very positive” race at the US GP
Leclerc finished the race nearly 25 seconds ahead of Ricciardo, but says finishing finishes shouldn’t make Ferrari get carried away with their hopes of beating McLaren in the race for third in the constructors’ championship.
“Let’s be realistic, it’s still very close, even if we think we’re pretty far ahead in a race like this, but that’s not the case. We have to keep working very, very hard. It’s going to be a close battle, but I have to say we only had two or three upgrades this year and those two or three upgrades have taken us a big step forward and that looks good for the future. “
READ MORE: “A strong defense” was required, says Ricciardo after fighting Sainz at COTA
But the Monegasque driver drew his performance – even if he knew he wasn’t getting a lot of airtime – additional satisfaction given the challenge that COTA offered from a fitness point of view.
“It was incredibly difficult. It’s probably one of the most physical races I’ve ever done. Singapore is difficult, but it’s a different kind of difficult, it’s just very warm. But here physically with the whole first sector, also with the last sector, with the bumps, with the heat it was physically very strenuous and the last ‘0-laps were very difficult, to be honest. “
The post “I was thinking about the podium,” said Leclerc, when he admits that the trip to P4 was “unexpected” first appeared on monter-une-startup.
