Charles Leclerc has explained how track position and no Hard tyre practice data led to Ferrari’s choice to not gamble on a one-stop in Formula 1’s Belgian Grand Prix.
Leclerc delivered a storming run in wet conditions to wind up as the nearest qualifier to Max Verstappen, who incurred a 10-place grid drop and vacated pole position.
The Monegasque retained his advantage at the start, but he dropped behind Lewis Hamilton on the third lap and remained situated in that position until the final stint.
However, Ferrari’s competitiveness regressed in the closing stages and Leclerc was powerless to keep Oscar Piastri behind or catch the one-stopping George Russell.
Russell, who was later disqualified due to an underweight car, expressed surprise that others didn’t elect to revert to a one-stop with degradation lower than expected.
Leclerc believes that it would have represented too much risk in his position at the time to abandon the conventional strategic choice to pursue an even greater result.
“It’s very difficult to know at that point, because when you have so many cars, we were in a position where we were second on track,” Leclerc, who inherited third, said.
“Which when you are getting undercut by one car, two cars, three cars, four cars, it starts to be quite tricky and you take a lot of risks.
“So it was just better to align ourselves to the other strategy. We didn’t know even what was the Hard like, because we hadn’t run it before the race.
“So all of this, I don’t think it’s fair to say that we did a mistake at that point, and I understood the point of view of the team.”
Leclerc, who expressed surprise with Mercedes’ race-winning pace, doesn’t think Ferrari would have achieved the same success using the race plan Russell exploited.
“So I just felt like the real pace is not good enough,” he continued.
“And when it’s like this, unfortunately, you can do whatever you want with the strategy, but you’re always going to lose places, and we are just not fast enough.”
He added: “We knew it wasn’t too far, but I think they just had more pace, so they made the one-stop work because they [Mercedes] were super, super strong today.”
Ferrari boss Frederic Vasseur has concurred with Leclerc’s view, citing that Russell had less to lose pitting as the Briton was residing in a net fifth place at that stage.
“The main problem is that you start with Medium and have to make this decision on Lap 11 when everyone comes into the pits and you have no idea how much the hard will wear,” he said.
“Strategies are often determined by position on the track. You can take risks when you are at the back of the group.”
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