Charles Leclerc has hailed Ferrari’s turnaround to score a podium in the United States Grand Prix as a testament to the team amid “unfounded rumours” in Formula 1.
Leclerc ended Ferrari’s five-race run without a top three finish dating back to July’s Belgian Grand Prix as he wound up third behind Max Verstappen and Lando Norris.
The Monegasque began on the Soft compound, which worked to his advantage at the start as the added grip allowed him to pass Norris around the outside at Turn 1.
“I knew it was an aggressive strategy,” Leclerc told media including Motorsport Week post-race in Austin.
“My plan was to be first after the first corner. I didn’t quite make that, but I gained a position, which helped me a little bit with free air. That definitely helped our race.
“Again, I knew it was aggressive but considering the feeling I had on the Hard in FP1, I was quite convinced I didn’t want to touch that tyre.
“So yeah, I was just a little bit worried when my engineer got on the radio on the grid and I was the only car on Softs, basically.
“So I thought, ‘OK, maybe there’s something I didn’t feel right.’ But in the end, it ended up a good choice.”
Leclerc managed to repel Norris’ advances on several occasions until the Ferrari driver’s spirited resolve was broken on Lap 20 as the McLaren blasted past with DRS.
But while he regained the spot when he undercut Norris during the pitstops, the McLaren driver mounted a late attack which saw him take second with five laps to go.
“Lando had four, five laps cooling down the tyres, and then I knew that when he would come back it would be very difficult to keep him behind,” he conceded.
“I tried because I managed to do so for quite a few laps, but then towards the end the tyres were starting to struggle a bit more.”
Leclerc pleased with podium return
Nonetheless, Leclerc was content to return to the podium on a weekend which had began with Ferrari struggling as both cars started the Sprint outside the top seven.
“I’m very happy because obviously we had the gearbox problem in FP1, which cost us a little bit of laps,
which then meant we were a little bit on the back foot, trying to recover in the Sprint Qualifying and Sprint Race,” he recalled.
“And then in qualifying we did some fine tuning, we found a lot more performance. And today was a really good race for us.”
Leclerc praises Ferrari comeback amid speculation
Leclerc came into the weekend having to disregard speculation that the Italian marque’s winless campaign has triggered him to contemplate his long-term prospects.
That coincided with Ferrari chairman John Elkann publishing a statement to back Fred Vasseur amid rumours that he had met with ex-Red Bull boss Christian Horner.
“So it’s a good thing, especially considering the whole situation. The second part of the season hasn’t been easy,” Leclerc acknowledged.
“There is completely unfounded noise and rumours around the team.
“And I think to demonstrate that in those kinds of situations we can stay focused on the job and be rewarded with a podium is a really nice feeling.”
READ MORE – Lewis Hamilton explains last-lap puncture scare in F1 US GP
Discussion about this post