The least we can say is that the Austrian Grand Prix weekend is one to forget for Charles Leclerc, the Monegasque having seen his race ruined from the first corner this Sunday in Spielberg.
Sixth on the grid for the Austrian Grand Prix, Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc found himself sandwiched between Oscar Piastri’s McLaren and Sergio Perez’s Red Bull at the first corner. The cars touched at the first corner, causing significant damage to the front wing of Leclerc’s SF-24, which forced him to pit at the end of the first lap.
After receiving a new wing, the Monegasque took to the track again and found himself at the back of the pack and had no choice but to work hard to try to move up the hierarchy. At the checkered flag, Charles Leclerc was classified eleventh at the gate of the points.
« Unfortunately, this weekend is one to forget because nothing went as planned.” said Leclerc on Sunday evening in Spielberg after the finish of the test.
“The collision on the first lap obviously completely ruined my race. We were hoping for a Safety Car but it didn’t come and I lost time behind Lando (Norris) even though I had new tires and could have pushed more. »
Since the start of the weekend in Austria, Leclerc has never been able to fight at the front, notably because of a technical problem that appeared during the Sprint qualification on Friday (the anti-stall system triggered on his Ferrari) and which prevented the Ferrari driver from qualifying higher than tenth place on the Sprint grid. He will still finish seventh and score two points.
Despite a difficult weekend, Leclerc took some positives, especially because Ferrari was able to try out different configurations with the SF-24 and collected a lot of data for the next rounds of the year.
“Apart from Carlos’ (Sainz, third) podium, which brings us a good number of points in the constructors’ championship, the only other positive aspect of the weekend is that we were able to try out different set-up configurations, which allowed the team to obtain a lot of data that will be very important for the next races.” added Leclerc.
After the Austrian Grand Prix, Charles Leclerc is still third in the World Drivers’ Championship, three points behind Lando Norris.
