Charles Leclerc believes that an ambitious stint on the medium tyre led to his underwhelming P4 Las Vegas Grand Prix finish.
Despite sitting atop the timesheets in the final embers of Saturday’s qualifying session, Leclerc’s lap was bettered by Carlos Sainz, Pierre Gasly and lastly George Russell before all drivers took the chequered flag. However, the Monegasque driver had a pulsating start to the grand prix. On lights out, he tiptoed up the inside of both Gasly and his teammate to sit P2 following the first corner. Leclerc then caught up to Russell, however was forced to drop off from the British driver not long after following a flurry of failed moves. After a promising start, this was the moment where the Ferrari driver’s race took a turn for the worse.
Let’s go Charles! ? He’s closing the gap to RUS in P1 ? #LasVegasGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/MCvsfGI5Vi
— Scuderia Ferrari HP (@ScuderiaFerrari) November 24, 2024
As a result of his early onslaught, the 27-year-old had taken much of the life out of his medium compound tyres, making him susceptible to being overtaken. He was then passed by Sainz and Max Verstappen in the space of two laps before being forced to pit on only lap ten. When Leclerc remerged sporting the hard compound tyre, he fared much better, re-passing Verstappen to climb back up to P4. But by this point the damage was done and the Ferrari driver’s winning aspirations were well and truly shattered.
Jumping the gun
His double overtake at turn one was not the first time that Leclerc has impressed on lights out this season. On route to his win in Austin, where he also started P4, the Monegasque driver swooped down the inside at the end of the pit straight to claim the read lead. However, on this occasion Leclerc’s early race ambitions hindered his progression. Speaking to Formula 1 media after the race, the Ferrari driver acknowledged the mistake he had made on his first stint:
“I mean, I was very excited at the start [in] P2, then unfortunately everything started to go very quickly wrong, because I pushed too much on the tyres.
“On the two other sets of hard we were very strong, but we lost too much on the first [set].”
An air of frustration
When completing his media duties in parc ferme, Leclerc was also asked to elaborate on his cooldown lap radio messages. After being told not to overtake his teammate, Sainz used his fired up tyres to swoop past Leclerc into turn five, much to the bemusement of the 27-year-old. Following the chequered flag, Leclerc exchanged some heated words with his race engineer, feeling that he had been treated unfairly. Speaking to Sky Sports F1, Leclerc said:
“I mean, every time there’s these kind of frustrations, obviously there’s not the background for everybody, there’s just no need for me to go into details of everything that’s discussed. I won’t go further into that discussion.
“Frustrating, yes, however it doesn’t change anything for the team. It’s okay. I think I did my part on the first stint obviously. When I had the tyres that were completely gone, I didn’t want to fight at that point, I let Carlos by. The rest we will discuss within the team.”
Despite Leclerc’s irritation, the Las Vegas GP can be considered a success for Ferrari in their hopes of clinching the 2024 Constructors’ World Championship. The Italian team sit second in the standings and after their 27-point haul in Nevada, now trail leaders McLaren by only 24 points.
TEAM STANDINGS (with two rounds to go) ?
The three-way title fight continues ⚔️#F1 #LasVegasGP pic.twitter.com/mgB85olZde
— Formula 1 (@F1) November 24, 2024
Feature Image Credit: (Photo by Clive Mason/Getty Images)