After a commanding victory with Carlos Sainz at the Mexico City Grand Prix, Ferrari now sits second in the Constructors’ standings—ahead of the reigning champions, Red Bull. Securing their fifth win this season, the Scuderia has also emerged as only the third team to secure back-to-back victories in 2024.
Although it appeared that the Maranello-based team had the 1-2 finish in the bag well into the race, the ‘lift and coast’ that Charles Leclerc was asked to do for a significant number of laps as a precautionary measure made him vulnerable to the fast-charging McLaren of Lando Norris in the closing stages of the Grand Prix.
While the SF-24 showed excellent potential in terms of pace throughout the weekend, sitting out FP1 (for rookie driver Ollie Bearman) and taking part in the mandatory Pirelli tyre test in FP2 meant that Leclerc headed into the race on Sunday with limited time to optimise his set-up.
After lining up in fourth on the grid and holding position at the start, the Monégasque driver moved up to second place on lap 10, taking advantage of the scrap that Max Verstappen engaged in with championship rival Lando Norris. However, he went wide at the final corner of lap 62, allowing the McLaren driver to overtake him and drop him down to the lowest step of the podium.
Speaking afterwards, Leclerc was asked to comment on how difficult the race was in terms of managing the temperatures at the beginning and momentarily losing control of the car on lap 62 while Norris pursued him for second position. Stating that he spent the first stint managing temperatures instead of maintaining a reasonable gap to his teammate Carlos Sainz, he admitted that it was a tough race for him given the decent pace he had in his first stint on mediums.
At the same time, the eight-time race winner claimed that a podium finish was the best outcome for him given the limited running he had during the free practice sessions on Friday. Congratulating the Spaniard on his victory, he also commended the team for their excellent results overall in Mexico City.
“Yeah, I mean, all in all, it’s been a really positive weekend for Ferrari, a little bit less for me personally.
“I haven’t been on my top game this weekend, but having said that, I think Carlos [Sainz] has been doing just the perfect weekend from the first lap in FP1 to the last one of the race.
“On my side, I was a little bit on the back foot, missing FP1, and I never really recovered. During the race, I felt like I was relatively quick on the first stint. Unfortunately, I was requested to do quite a lot of management for temperatures, but yeah, at the end it was the way it is.
“I mean, the whole weekend I’ve been a little bit on the back foot. So third place was the best we could achieve on my side today. Amazing race by Carlos today and yeah, it’s a good weekend overall for the team, which is positive.”
Referring to the fastest lap that he managed to set at the end and how every point counts for the Constructors’ championship, a journalist wanted Leclerc to share his opinion on whether teamwork is the key to their recent success. The 27-year-old complimented their efforts as a team and stated that it’s reassuring to watch Ferrari perform at the high level they are expected to.
Moreover, confirming that they are still gunning for the constructors’ title, Leclerc remarked that their performance at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez has moved them closer to their target and that they intend to carry on this momentum to bring the coveted trophy home after sixteen long years.
“I know we are working super well as a team. I think it’s been quite a few races now that we are coming back to the level we should be at and it’s amazing to see.
“Obviously, the Constructors’ [championship] is still our target and with weekends like this we are getting closer to it. So, I hope we can continue in that direction and get that Constructors’ title, which is very important.”
On the topic of being on the back foot and the issues he encountered with the car, Leclerc clarified that he didn’t find his rhythm immediately as the SF-24 hit the track on Friday. Given his lack of running in FP1 and the inability to test set-ups in FP2 due to the tyre test conducted by Pirelli, the Monégasque confessed that he never found his confidence in the car during the final hour of practice he had on Saturday.
“Nothing really, sometimes you get into the car and the feeling is perfect and sometimes you just have to work a lot harder for it and that’s what happened this weekend.
“And obviously there was quite a limited amount of running for me because the whole FP2 was on prototypes and Pirelli testing and then FP3 was all about trying to get back into the rhythm but I never really managed to do so. So yeah, I was just not fast enough.”
When asked whether he had set the win as his target after he first got through to P2 on lap 10, Leclerc confirmed that he was preparing to chase his ninth career win when he managed to close the gap to Sainz down to less than a second. However, he admitted that he didn’t have the pace advantage to beat the Spaniard, regardless of the drastic management that slowed him down.
“Of course, I could see Carlos [Sainz] was right in front, so there you start to think about the win straight away.
“I was feeling really good at that moment of the race, so you do, but then quickly I understood that it would be a lot trickier than that with all the management I had to do, but again, I don’t think anyway I had the pace to beat Carlos today.”
In terms of whether he had the pace to keep Norris behind or if his overtake at the start of lap 63 was inevitable given the pace of the MCL38, Leclerc responded that he had no chance of successfully defending against the rapid McLaren at that stage of the race. Stating that the tussle between Verstappen and Norris had slowed the British driver down considerably in the first stint, he suggested that a McLaren victory might’ve been on the cards otherwise, referring to the superior pace of the Brit on the hard compound tyres.
Explaining that he needed a perfect exit out of the final corner on lap 62 in order to hold up Norris, Leclerc conceded that it was quite difficult to execute the move. In spite of pushing over the limit, losing control of the car, and ceding a position, he asserted that it was only a matter of time before he dropped down to third place.
“Oh, by then I had no chance to stay in front of Lando [Norris]. Lando was flying, and I think as a team, we’ve been pretty lucky that whatever happened with Max [Verstappen] and Lando at the beginning of the race, that slowed him down massively, and his second stint was very, very impressive. So that was a good thing for us, and that probably helped us.
“On my side, there was no way that I could stay in front. I knew that it would be very difficult. I knew that I had to have an incredible exit out of the last corner, so I tried to put everything…to have a really good exit, went over the limit, lost the car and lost the position, but I felt it was a question of laps or corners before I lost that position.”
Referring to Ferrari’s resurgence in the second half of the season, Leclerc was asked to offer his assessment on their chances of winning the Constructors’ title this season. Emphasising their objective, he commented that the Italian outfit seeks to focus on themselves and maximise the potential of the car every race weekend. Furthermore, he added that the Constructors’ title is a “realistic” goal in comparison to his chances in the Drivers’ championship, which now depend more on luck.
“Yeah, of course it has to be our target, because we don’t have to think about it every day. And I think the best way to achieve it is by just focusing on our own self and trying to maximise the package of our car, which is what we have done since two weekends.
“But yeah, the Constructors’ [title] now is realistically possible. And it relies on us doing well more than others doing something wrong, which I’ve often said is probably the case for the Drivers’ championship.
“For the Drivers’ championship I need to do everything right and I need a lot of bad luck to happen elsewhere. So the Constructors’ is definitely our main target and if we continue in that form it’s a realistic one.”
With regard to the question of how he lost control of the SF-24, Leclerc admitted that it was a rather stressful moment since he nearly crashed into the barriers. Revealing that he wanted Norris to overheat his tyres while driving behind his dirty air, the 27-year-old explained that he lost the rear in that corner of lap 62 and experienced snaps of oversteer afterwards.
“Oh, I mean, I don’t know which face I did, but it had to be a pretty stressful one because when I lost it.
“So again, I felt like it was a matter of laps, but I was still trying to do everything possible for him [Lando Norris] to overheat behind me and keep him as long as possible behind me.
“I could see that he was very close out of that corner. I lost the rear and then you forget about Lando and you just hope that you are going to take it back. I had one oversteer and then when I recovered from that oversteer, I had an oversteer from the other side and then I was like, ‘f**k’.”
In terms of whether he expects a three-way fight till the end of the season or a clear winner to emerge beforehand, the Ferrari driver quipped that he doesn’t mind Verstappen’s aggressive driving against Norris since their battles have enabled him to close the gap to the Brit in the championship. Nevertheless, he claimed that the Red Bull driver’s advantage is too big for them to launch any meaningful attacks with a few races left this season.
Stating that he prefers not to be preoccupied by the calculations of him potentially winning the Drivers’ title, Leclerc disclosed that he intends to put his best foot forward for the remainder of the season since his own performance is the only element he can control. Like a good sportsman, he also declared that he doesn’t rely on his rival Verstappen to encounter misfortunes in order to boost his chances of lifting the championship trophy.
“Again, I welcome Max [Verstappen] being as aggressive to Lando [Norris] as possible because it helps me, at least it gives me chances to be closer to Lando in the Drivers’ championship because it’s still a fight.
“If anything, it’s more a fight, Lando and myself, than with Max that has quite a lot of advantages in points.
“On my side, I don’t think about the Drivers’ championship, realistically. As I was saying earlier, I think first the approach is not to start thinking about the Drivers’ championship. That doesn’t help me achieve anything more. It’s by focusing race by race. And more than that, I just feel like it’s not in my control whether I win the Drivers’ championship.
“Let me explain better. Of course, there’s part of it that is in my control. And if I win all races, that puts most of the chances on my side. But even if I do that, I’ve got to have Max that has very poor weekends and I don’t rely on that, so I’ll just try and do the best possible end of the season, and then we’ll do the math at the end of the season.”
