Charles Leclerc has shared his thoughts on the difficulty of Sunday’s British Grand Prix calling it the “most difficult race of his career.”
The Monocan racer finished in 14th and was the penultimate driver to conclude the race in wet and slippery conditions.
Leclerc took a gamble on his tyres early, deciding to pit at the end of the formation lap and swap his intermediate tyres for slicks.
However, it made little difference and although he admitted the tyre change wasn’t a great idea, his pace was “nowhere” for the entire race.
He said: “I mean, for sure this did not help, however we were kind of nowhere the whole race.
“And when I say nowhere, it’s like really nowhere. I was a second off and on top of that I was doing lots of mistakes.
“I was really struggling to keep the car on track. So, it was an incredibly difficult day.
“I need to analyse what was going on. What did I do in terms of tools, in terms of set-up, in terms of driving that made everything worse. Because today was extremely difficult.
“One of the most difficult races for me, if not the most difficult race of my career. I just struggled to keep the car on track from the first lap to the last.”
Ferrari team-mate Lewis Hamilton echoes his thoughts
Lewis Hamilton fared much better in the Ferrari but still missed out on a podium as he attempted to close down Niko Hulkenberg.
Fourth place was all he could muster despite showing glimpses of the pace Ferrari has at its disposal.
“A difficult race,” he said afterwards. “Not a great one from my side. I did the best I could.
“As it showed there were plenty of mistakes out there and very, very tricky conditions, in a really very, very hard car to drive here. This car doesn’t like those conditions.
“Not ideal, but we got some points at least.”
F1 Standings at the halfway stage
A terrific victory by Lando Norris on home soil saw him close the gap on his McClaren team-mate Oscar Piastri to just eight.
However, it was Hulkenberg who took the headlines, having earned his place on the podium for the first time and at the 239th time of asking. He finished in third behind Piastri.
Max Verstappen took fifth, ahead of Pierre Gasly. Belgium plays host to the next race on the last Sunday of July.
Piastri is the 4/6 favourite to win the Drivers Championship with Irish betting sites.
Oscar Piastri – 234 points
Lando Norris – 226 points
Max Verstappen – 165 points
George Russell – 147 points
Charles Leclerc – 119 points
Lewis Hamilton – 103 points
Kimi Antonello – 63 points
Alexander Albon – 46 points
Nico Hulkenberg – 37 points
Esteban Ocon – 23 points
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