Charles Leclerc has suggested why he failed to convert his pole position to a win in Sunday’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
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The Monegasque driver set the fastest time in Saturday’s qualifying session and therefore started from the front of the grid on race day. In the early embers of the race, it looked as though Leclerc could be on for successive wins as he began to pull away from the chasing pack. However, after being caught and then overtaken by Oscar Piastri on lap 20, he failed to hit back before the chequered flag was waved.
Coming up just short
In a year of fine margins in Formula 1, the Azerbaijan GP might well have been the most competitive race yet.
After starting from pole position, Leclerc did well to stay out of trouble on the opening lap and went on to build a gap to second place Piastri. This was until the first set of pit stops when the Australian attempted to undercut the race leader. Whilst he may not have been in front of Leclerc when he emerged back onto the track, Piastri was significantly closer to the 26-year-old and quickly closed to within DRS range. When the flap on the McLaren’s rear wing opened just a lap later, he was able to make the lunge on the Monegasque driver into turn one, taking the race lead in the process. Leclerc tried tirelessly to fight back, attempting manoeuvres on multiple occasions, however Piastri held firm to claim his second ever grand prix victory.
PIASTRI DOWN THE INSIDE TO TAKE THE LEAD! 🇦🇿� pic.twitter.com/ZSTVEtXIsc
— Sky Sports F1 (@SkySportsF1) September 15, 2024
Small Margins
After the race, Leclerc was asked by F1 media to pinpoint the moment that the race started to fall away from him:
“I think as soon as we put the hard tyres on. The mediums were very competitive and the car felt good”, he said in response.
“Unfortunately, we didn’t do any high fuel running on my side in FP1/FP2 and we went for a set-up direction that maybe in the race was a bit more difficult to manage. Especially on the hard tyres, I was really struggling to just keep those rear tyres.
“Towards the end I really thought that… in one corner or two I thought that I would put it in the wall. It was very close, but [we ended up] second today.”
The Ferrari driver then went on to suggest where he may have lost out to Piastri during the race:
“I think maybe McLaren had a little bit less downforce, so in the straights they were very quick and in the corners we were a bit quicker.“I thought that when Oscar overtook me it was just a matter of staying calm, trying to keep those tyres and overtake him later on, but actually it was a lot more difficult than that. In the straights I couldn’t get as close as I wanted.Despite the disappointing result, Leclerc is adamant that the same errors will not happen again:
“To be honest, we lost the race when I didn’t quite defend as well as I should have at the end of the straight, but it’s the way it is. Sometimes you do mistakes, and I’ll learn from it.”
Leclerc remains winless at the Azerbaijan GP, despite this year being the fourth successive season that he has qualified on pole for the race.
Where does this leave Ferrari’s championship challenge?
With Piastri edging out Leclerc and Carlos Sainz colliding with Sergio Perez on the penultimate lap, Ferrari sacrificed a weighty points haul in Baku. For a matter of moments, the Italian team were on their way to securing a respectable 34 points. However, when they returned to parc ferme, they only had 18 points to show for their weekend’s work.Whilst this may come as a blow to Ferrari, they are still firmly in the fight for this year’s World Constructors’ Championship title. With seven races remaining, they sit third in the standings, only 31 points behind the struggling Red Bull and a further 20 behind new leaders McLaren.
For the first time since 2014, McLaren lead the way! ?
A double points finish for Williams also leapfrogs them above Haas! ?#F1 #AzerbaijanGP pic.twitter.com/7vFoqu8qKI
— Formula 1 (@F1) September 15, 2024
Despite resigning to the second step of the podium at the Baku City Circuit, there is certainly a silver lining for Leclerc. With both Lando Norris and Max Verstappen finishing outside the podium places, the 26-year-old made considerable gains in the World Drivers’ Championship Standings.
Prior to the Italian Grand Prix, Leclerc trailed championship leader Verstappen by a huge 103 points, a gap which has since been reduced to 78. Alongside this, he has also closed in on Norris, edging 14 points closer to the British driver over the past two races. It could potentially be too little too late for the Monegasque driver with Verstappen having built a significant points gap to the remainder of the competition during his early season dominance. However, his scintillating run of results can only be a positive for Leclerc who has stood on the podium after all three races since since the summer break.
Feature Image Credit: (Photo by James Sutton/Getty Images)