Despite starting the 2024 Azerbaijan Grand Prix race from pole position, Scuderia Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc was unable to secure his third win of the season, instead finishing second behind McLaren’s Oscar Piastri.
While speaking ahead of the Singapore Grand Prix, Leclerc, who had led the race during the first stint on the medium tyres and pulled out an almost 6-second lead, addressed the factors he believed had cost him the win.
The Monégasque stated that he believed that the race had been lost “around the pit stop” which he admitted had come “maybe a lap too late” and in the resulting outlap during which he had lost a lot of time.
He explained that these factors had increased the pressure on him going into the second stint of the race and had impaired his ability to manage the hard tyres as well as he had in the first stint, especially as Piastri’s straight-line speed had been faster than anticipated.
“I think not having the clean air and not managing the tyres as well as the first stint was basically a result of what happened before.
“I think around the pit stop is where we lost the victory basically. We lost quite a lot of time on the outlap on my side and probably the pit stop was maybe a lap too late, and these two things together made us find ourselves in a situation where there was quite a lot of pressure going out of the box with cold tyres and it was difficult to manage.
“As well as, obviously, the straight-line speed that maybe we didn’t anticipate as well as we should have.
“So yeah, it was a number of factors that made us finish second but it’s the way it is. I mean, that’s a different shape. A win with a second place and we’ll learn from that.”
When asked about his thoughts on Piastri’s overtake on him, Leclerc described it as being “a good move” but stated that he had been aware of Piastri’s positioning and of the opportunity for him to get past. However, he stated that he had not been too much more worried about losing the lead to Piastri as he had been more concerned about preserving his tyres.
He implied that he believed he would have the chance to retake the lead for Piastri but acknowledged that he had underestimated Piastri’s straight-line speed which had denied him any future opportunities to pass the McLaren driver.
“I mean, it was a good move.
“However, as I said, when I saw him going on the inside, I knew he was there. I knew it was an opportunity for him to get past, but I was not more worried than that.
“I knew that he could take the lead, but I also knew that I was at the beginning of the tyres and I didn’t want to push on them. So, I didn’t want to start going stupid in terms of how defensive I would get.
“However, I was wrong because obviously his straight-line speed was really, really strong and after that I never had the opportunity to pass again.”
While Leclerc stated that he did not think that there was anything that he could have done to improve his attacks on Piastri, he acknowledged that he could have done a better job defending his position. However, he reiterated that his decisions had been made with him having had an inaccurate idea of the McLaren’s pace.
“So, I don’t think on the attacks there was anything better I could have done. I could have done a better job defending. However, again, I didn’t know how quick they were on the straights after that.”
The Ferrari driver was also asked about his thoughts on the footage that had emerged showing the rear wing of the MCL38 flexing at high speeds along the straights. Following the emergence of this footage, concerns were raised with the FIA who, on Thursday, stated that the MCL38 and the questioned rear wing had passed all compliance tests.
The FIA, however, also added that it would continue to review emerging data and additional evidence and would continue to consider any mitigating measures for future implementation.
When asked if he had conversed with his team about the situation, Leclerc acknowledged that he had. However, he refused to give further details about the matter, stating that he would prefer to leave the discussion of such topics to his team principal, Frédéric ‘Fred’ Vasseur, as he had been informed that the matter was “controversial, to say the least.”
“Yes, definitely dialogue that we have already had. I think Fred will go on that matter a bit more in detail, but of what I’ve been told, it’s controversial, to say the least.
“So, I’ll leave that here and I’ll let Fred comment [on] it a bit further.”
