Leclerc: Unexpected runner-up spot 'feels like a victory'

Charles Leclerc undoubtedly made the most of his Sunday in Austria, the Ferrari driver salvaging an unexpected second-place finish thanks to a solid drive, attrition and lucky circumstances.

The Monegasque finished the incident-packed opening race of the 2020 season third on the road but inherited second after Lewis Hamilton was handed a 5-second time penalty for causing a collision with Red Bull's Alex Albon.

However, in the closing stages of the 71-lap race Leclerc overhauled both Racing Point's Sergio Perez and McLaren's Lando Norris to stake his claim to a spot on the podium.

• Bottas wins from Leclerc, Norris on the podium!

"I'm extremely happy, it feels like a victory today," Leclerc told Sky F1's Jenson Button. "A nice surprise but a good one.

"I think we did everything perfect today to be honest to finish second.

"We had a little bit of luck, obviously, with Lewis's penalty. Some crashes here and there and that was a goal to take every opportunity we had even though we didn't have the pace to finish where we were I think.

"P2, I am extremely satisfied and there's still a lot of work to do. We are still far away and we are not where we want to be, but anything is possible.

"So we need to keep the mental strong, all the team work as a team and I'm pretty sure we'll come very well, it will take time."

With little to lose given his car's disappointing relative performance, Leclerc said he was on a charge from the outset, especially after each successive safety car period.

"I wanted to be very aggressive because at every safety car I was struggling at Turn 1 to Turn 3, I knew there was no opportunity for me here.

"But I knew that my opportunity will come if me someone will do a mistake and Lando slowed down a little bit with Sergio and I went for it, and the other one with Sergio was pretty tough but I enjoyed it.

"I would rate this as one of my best races since I arrived in F1, because I didn't do any mistakes."

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