Charles Leclerc has said he is disappointed to come over the line fourth in the 2022 British Grand Prix despite the Ferrari driver leading for portions of a race which swung back and forth between multiple drivers.
Leclerc led teammate Carlos Sainz just past the halfway point of the race before a late safety car caused by a retirement for the Alpine of Esteban Ocon threw another spanner in the works. Ferrari opted to pit Sainz for fresh soft tyres during the safety car, but left Leclerc out on track with worn hard tyres.
With the chasing Red Bull of Sergio Perez and the Mercedes of Lewis Hamilton also both putting on the softs for the final 12 laps of the race, Leclerc was left vulnerable eventually slipped down to fourth at the flag.
“I had the hard tires, and obviously everybody around was on soft. So I was struggling massively,” Leclerc told Sky Sports F1 after the race.
“But I gave my absolute best, and ultimately it wasn’t enough. And it’s obviously disappointing.”
Leclerc’s highs and lows
Leclerc‘s had a topsy turvy race throughout, with the Monegasque losing his right front wing endplate following the race restart after the crash of Zhou Guanyu as he attempted a move up the inside of Perez.
The damage didn’t seem to deter the Ferrari driver as he pushed his engineers to allow him to pass Sainz, with the pair eventually switching halfway through the race. Despite that, he was unable to hold onto the lead with the Spaniard on the soft tyres.
“The disappointment is big for me today. It’s been a roller coaster of race,” Leclerc said.
“The first lap I broke the front wing and I thought that it was over.
“There was quite a lot of understeer, and I managed to play around with my toggles to have a bit more of a strong front and then the pace came back and we were very strong and then the win was feeling more and more possible.
“Then obviously the Safety Car [came out] and that was it. So it’s frustrating.”
