Sauber's Leclerc puzzled by second stint spin in China GP

Sauber's Charles Leclerc came in dead last in Sunday's Chinese Grand Prix, a race in which the French rookie was caught out by his C37 for reasons he has yet to understand.

Leclerc outqualified team mate Marcus Ericsson for the first time this season and showed a good and consistent pace in his opening stint on Pirelli's soft tyres.

Balance issues affecting his Sauber came into play however when he switched over to the medium compound, and led to a spin at Turn 1 that damaged his car's floor.

"It was not an ideal race today. I started on a set of soft tyres. I was quite happy with my pace, and managed to advance to the midfield," said Leclerc.

"Shortly after I changed to the set of medium tyres, I spun into the gravel. I picked up some damage to the floor, and started having some trouble with the balance of the car. Unfortunately, I lost a couple of positions there."

• F1i's Driver Ratings for the Chinese GP

Sauber's post-race analysis of Leclerc's car did indeed conclude that the damage was a result of the mishap, and not its potential cause, as Leclerc initially thought.

"It was very strange because the first three laps I was actually going quicker into this corner," the 20-year-old told Autosport.

"And this lap actually I went slower and lost the rear very unpredictably. I could not see it coming at all. And after that I never managed to reproduce the speed I was doing in all the high-speed corners.

"The rear was just very loose and it was very difficult to drive overall."

Contrary to his team, Marcus Ericsson endured a difficult opening stint but improved his pace thereafter.

"I had a good start today, but lost a few positions after I went slightly off-track in one of the turns.

"Overall, the race had two phases. The first part was on soft tyres; I was struggling quite a bit as the balance did not feel great.

"After changing to the medium tyres, I caught up with the lower midfield and could keep up with their pace. Once we look at the data, we can start our preparations for the next race in Azerbaijan."

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