The Monegasque was bitter about sixth place because he started from pole: “I’m not angry because I let Sainz pass, but because of the strategy.” The team principal: “We compromised his race, we were undecided and that’s not good”
A disappointing GP for Ferrari and Charles Leclerc. Expectations in Austin were very different after Friday’s pole position. Ferrari also showed good top speed and therefore not being able to capitalize on the first position in qualifying, finishing in sixth place, was not a good ending to the weekend. During the race, Leclerc was penalized by his one-stop strategy and at the end he even had to let Carlos Sainz pass, something he complained about on the radio: “We’ll have to talk about it later.” Then after the race he slowed down, understanding that it was necessary to protect the position of his teammate, who behind him had to defend himself from Sergio Perez’s comeback.
the choice on carlos
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“The tire degradation was good overall, but the one-stop strategy was not the correct one – said a very disappointed Leclerc – I cannot hide that the one-stop strategy was the wrong choice, mine and Sainz’s numbers were very similar I didn’t understand at the time why they asked me to let Carlos through, then they explained to me that it was a choice to protect him from Perez’s return. That’s why I’m not angry, I’m certainly more angry about the wrong strategy.”
vasseur speaks
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Team principal Fred Vasseur did not hide his disappointment: “I am not satisfied with the race, we compromised Leclerc’s race with the strategy – said the Frenchman – I have some regrets, we cannot be happy with a fourth of a sixth place starting from pole position. With Sainz the race was managed well, arriving not far from Norris. With Leclerc, however, we compromised his result with strategy. A decision, the one linked to Charles, which had been discussed before the race. Nothing is It was decided at the time. When we let Sainz pass it was only to save Leclerc some time, but we can’t be happy with the result achieved. We should have had a clear strategy, we were a bit undecided and that’s not good. The choice making a stop was certainly not the ideal one, but the tire management wasn’t that bad. Then it’s easy to make these comments in retrospect, we will certainly try to improve in the next races.”
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