Charles Leclerc admitted that he failed to defend effectively against Oscar Piastri in Sunday’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix, ultimately losing the race to the McLaren driver after a thrilling battle with the Australian driver.
From pole position, Leclerc dominated proceedings during the event’s opening 20 laps. But a daring move by Piastri into Baku’s Turn 1 handed a marginal lead to the latter which he was able to hold for the remainder of the race.
Leclerc admitted that he was caught off guard by his McLaren rival’s aggressive overtake, acknowledging that his decision to return to the racing line too early may have cost him the race.
"To be honest, we lost the race where I didn't quite defend as well as I should have at the end of the straight," said the Ferrari charger. "But it is the way it is. Sometimes you do mistakes, and I'll learn from it.
"When Oscar overtook me, I was like: 'Okay, now it's just a matter of staying calm, trying to keep those tyres [alive] and overtake him again later on'.
"But actually, it was a lot more difficult than that and on the straights I couldn't get as close as I wanted.”
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The challenge for Leclerc was compounded by McLaren’s straight-line speed advantage. Despite Ferrari’s edge in the corners, the Monegasque driver found it nearly impossible to catch Piastri on the straights, where McLaren’s lower downforce allowed the Aussie to pull ahead.
“I think maybe McLaren had a little bit less downforce, so on the straights they were very quick. In the corners we were a bit quicker,” commented Leclerc.
As the race progressed, Leclerc stayed close to Piastri and made several attempts to reclaim the lead with the help of DRS into Turn 1. However, as his hard tyres began to fade, the Ferrari driver was forced to settle for second place.
Leclerc admitted that he initially thought Piastri’s aggressive pace was unsustainable, which prompted him to push his own tyres harder than planned.
"We were very competitive, and the car felt good,” he added. “Unfortunately, we didn't do any high fuel running on my side in FP1, FP2, and we went for a set-up direction that maybe in the race was a bit more difficult to manage, especially on the hard tyres.
"I was really struggling to just keep those rear tyres [alive]. And towards the end I really thought that I would put it in the wall. It was very close."
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