Leclerc ‘left nothing on the table’ in Vegas all-out charge

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Charles Leclerc walked away from the Las Vegas Grand Prix insisting he had extracted every last drop from his Ferrari, describing a chaotic race in which he took “massive risks” to climb from ninth on the grid to sixth at the flag – a result later upgraded to fourth after both McLarens were disqualified.

The Monegasque driver found himself on the back foot from the start, hampered by Ferrari’s aero configuration that left the SF-25 vulnerable on the long Vegas straights.

That deficit shaped the tone of his evening: aggressive, committed, and constantly on the edge.

Asked if he could nevertheless take positives away from the end result, the Scuderia charger doubted that he could although he was happy with his efforts.

“Well, I mean, not really. It’s P6, so it’s still very frustrating to only finish P6 when you start P9,” he said.

“On the other hand, if I look at my race, it’s been a bit of a crazy race.

“I had to take massive risks to overtake because we were very, very slow in the straights. On that side, it was an entertaining race, but then I don’t really understand what happened around the pitstop.

“But it seems that we’ve lost quite a few places, so we’ll look back at that, whether we could have done something better there.”

Strategy Miscue?

Ferrari chose not to cover the undercuts executed by Oscar Piastri and Kimi Antonelli, leaving Leclerc to engage both directly on the circuit. While his racecraft was sharp, the straight-line deficit made sealing overtakes nearly impossible – particularly in the closing laps, when DRS dynamics worked against him.

“It was just a bit of a shame to get stuck behind Oscar that had the DRS exactly at the point where I was catching up. And that made it very difficult for us,” he said.

Leclerc lamented that the strategy call effectively cancelled what he believed was podium-worthy pace once the McLarens were excluded from the final classification.

‘I was pushing 200 per cent’

If there was frustration with the Ferrari pit wall, there was none with his own execution. Leclerc was unequivocal about the quality of his performance.

“There wasn’t anything I left on the table,” he said. “It was a bit of a tough race to manage, but I don’t think I could have done anything better,” he said.

The Ferrari driver described a race spent operating at the very limit, trying to cling to DRS windows that were essential for survival given the SF-25’s drag penalty.

“I was pushing 200 per cent the whole race, I don’t think I left anything on the table,” he added.

“I just think they had a bit more pace towards the end, but I also had pushed a lot behind them to try and get as close as possible.

“I had to, because otherwise I would lose DRS, and without the DRS I was dead slow.”

His upgraded fourth place may soften the final numbers, but Leclerc’s verdict remained clear: he drove beyond the limits of the machinery he had – and believes Ferrari must now explain why he had to.

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Michael Delaney