Charles Leclerc says he misjudged how the Azerbaijan Grand Prix was going to play out and thought he would have the ability to re-pass Oscar Piastri to beat the McLaren after being overtaken.
Piastri had dropped practically six seconds adrift of Leclerc previous to the pit stops in Baku, however closed up on the out lap on exhausting tires and shortly pulled off a scientific transfer into Flip 1 to take the lead. Leclerc says he might see Piastri would possibly attempt to overtake on that event however that he wasn’t overly frightened, believing the race would come again in direction of him in a while.
“Probably not abruptly, as a result of he wasn’t utterly straight behind me,” Leclerc stated. “He was slightly bit on the left. So I might see in my mirrors that he was there and that it was a chance for him to go there. However I couldn’t actually be tremendous aggressive. I nonetheless had chilly tires. I used to be actually struggling to get these tires into temperature.
“I simply thought it wasn’t that a lot of a giant deal if he would overtake me at that time of the race as a result of the race was nonetheless lengthy and the DRS would assist me to remain inside a second of him after which as soon as my tires can be in temperature I might overtake him once more. However that was a misjudgment from my facet.”
Piastri was capable of hold Leclerc at bay after which pulled away from the Ferrari within the closing laps, with Leclerc believing the distinction in automobile set-ups additionally performed an element in him being unable to regain the lead.
“It’s been a reasonably irritating race. We ran two totally different configurations. That they had a decrease downforce bundle. We had a bit extra downforce, which made us fairly fast within the fort part. Nonetheless, on all of the straights they have been flying. And that’s most likely the place I misplaced the race. I misjudged that.
“And when Oscar overtook me into Flip 1, I used to be not too frightened. I simply wished to remain throughout the DRS, hold my tires, and try an overtake in a while. Nonetheless, this chance by no means actually arose once more, simply because we have been too sluggish within the straights. Yeah, that was a small misjudgment, which had a giant consequence.
“So typically it hurts, and it does, however it’s the best way it’s. However, it’s been a reasonably good final couple of races by way of efficiency. This weekend hasn’t been nice, as a result of clearly we’ve obtained Carlos [Sainz] that was in an excellent place that didn’t handle to complete the race. However throughout the workforce, we’re in an excellent place in an excellent temper and we have to hold pushing in that course.”
