Starting 19th on the starting grid for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Charles Leclerc managed to climb onto the podium of the last round of the 2024 Formula 1 season, thanks to a superb comeback and a brilliant first lap which we can remember will probably remember for a long time. But despite this achievement, the Monegasque driver was especially disappointed to see Ferrari fail against McLaren F1 to obtain the constructors' title.
“I am, of course, very happy with the race. But the disappointment is much greater. You don't win or lose a championship only in the last race. But obviously, it's during the season and after every race. And McLaren did better than us. But obviously it hurts when you get to the last race. was very difficult, already with the penalty on Friday. never been easy. But after such a good first round, hopes were high and yes, we missed our dream, which was to win the Constructors' title. It hurts.
Leclerc was already eighth at the end of the first lap, and he can't remember making such a start since the start of his F1 career.
“I don't know. Maybe in Formula 2 I had a few good first laps. But in F1 I think it's definitely the best first lap I've had.”
In addition to his ten-place grid penalty, Leclerc saw his qualifying stop in Q2 after his lap was withdrawn for crossing track limits. Could the story have been different if he had started higher on the grid?
“On Saturday I thought fourth would probably be the best place, which would have given a 14th or 15th place on the grid. Then you never know what happens starting 15th, would we have gained 11 positions as well? I think you can't say that. So yeah, overall I think my first lap got back everything we had from the start of the weekend so I have no regrets.
Leclerc 'proud' of Ferrari's operational progress
McLaren F1 therefore won the constructors' championship after displaying the best level of performance throughout the season, but Leclerc is nevertheless proud of the exercise achieved by the Scuderia.
“I'm very happy because I think the first part of the season was not easy. We certainly didn't have the fastest car. In fact, we struggled to perform well. In the second part of the season we did an incredible job, especially to improve the car in terms of pace. We gained a lot of speed. We were much closer to the guys in front, and in fact, in some races we probably had the car. faster, and this thanks to the Maranello team, thanks to Carlos, thanks to me and the team at the track who did such a good job with the new improvements.”
“But I think the strong point of this season has been the execution. Because fighting for the constructors' title at the end of the year until the very last race, if you look at the performances we had in The first part of the year is where we did a particularly good job, so I'm very proud of that.”
If the Monegasque driver is therefore happy with the trajectory of his team, he does not see this as being a guarantee of fighting for the title again in 2025.
“We had two seasons where we fought for the championship. Obviously one of them didn't last long enough, in 2022. And I think we grew a lot. I grew a lot in as a driver and I think we have also grown a lot as a team, because after such a long time, most of the team members have changed. For many, it was the first time that they have changed. were fighting again with Ferrari at the top I. so I think it's an important process. But yes, I think in the last four years we have been progressing step by step in the right direction. With Carlos we have pushed the team in a very good direction. And I think we're in a really good place today.”
“Obviously we didn't reach the ultimate goal this year. But I don't really believe that our current momentum is necessarily a good sign for next year. There have been quite a few examples of our side where we finished one year strong and struggled at the start of the next year, so we really need to keep that momentum going. We've had several examples, and we've managed to pinpoint what that is. was not going during the winter break, on this that we didn't do correctly, and we paid the price at the start of the following season. It's probably the most useful experience to start next year in the best possible way.”
