Charles Leclerc says his strong result at last weekend’s United States Grand Prix shows the progress Ferrari has made with his car.
The team enjoyed a strong result in Austin against their nearest championship rivals McLaren. This was the first race in which both drivers benefited from their improved engine without starting place penalties.
Leclerc and his teammate Carlos Sainz Jnr outperformed their two main rivals and Leclerc finished fourth, almost 25 seconds ahead of leading McLaren.
“It was a very, very good race,” said Leclerc. “The pace was there, every lap was a qualifying lap and, to be honest, I didn’t leave much on the table. So it’s a very good day and everything felt very good.
“But it also shows that we are working in the right direction, that we are improving race after race as a team, and that’s great to see.”
Ferrari has reduced its gap to McLaren to just three and a half points in five remaining races.
Leclerc said he got the most out of the car in Austin. “It was an absolutely clean race,” he said. “In every lap I tried to maximize everything. It was basically very, very smooth. We were never threatened by anyone.
“The last stint was probably the most demanding, but mostly physically. It was a very difficult race physically. The heat was pretty hard and the bumps are very, very difficult to negotiate lap after lap. So it was very physically demanding.
At the end of the race, Leclerc was just 10 seconds behind Sergio Perez. The sick Red Bull rider struggled to the end when his beverage system failed on the first lap, leading Leclerc to believe that a top 3 placement might be possible.
“I could also see Checo, who was only eight seconds ahead, and we caught up with him. So at some point I thought the podium was possible, so I really gave it my all. The last stint was the most difficult, but we had no particular problem. “
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