F1 | Ferrari, Leclerc: “Fifth place was the best possible result”

Charles Leclerc he finished the Azerbaijan Grand Prix in fifth place. The Monegasque, affected by the mistake made yesterday in the second qualifying heat which forced him to start only from the fourth row, managed the first stint of the race excellently on medium tires (34 laps completed on yellow, ed.), revealing instead difficulties of pace with the softest covers.

Leclerc, with the 11 points scored in Baku (10 deriving from the race placement and 1 from the fastest lap achieved in 1'43"009, ed.), consolidates fifth place in the World Championship, four points away from the fourth occupied by Max Verstappen.

The standard bearer of the Red team, analyzing the Azerbaijani race, declared: “The fifth place I took home was the best possible result today. After the disappointment of qualifying I started from eighth position on medium tyres, which made the first few laps not easy given that the cars around me were all on soft tyres. After getting the tires up to temperature I was able to take advantage of good grip and the situation improved. Overall my first stint was quite good and I was able to recover several positions. After my pit stop, however, it was immediately clear that it was impossible to recover further positions and so we decided to manage the situation".

He then added: "At the end the opportunity arose to make an additional pit stop and so we managed to take home the fastest lap. It was certainly not our best weekend but we had further confirmation that the potential of the car is there and I therefore hope that we will be able to obtain better results starting from the next Grand Prix in Spain".

Piero Ladisa

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