Charles Leclerc has explained the “very scary moment” that cost him the chance to fight leader George Russell at the end of the Formula 1 Chinese Grand Prix sprint.
The Ferrari driver finished second behind the championship leader in the Shanghai sprint, starting from fourth but overtaking Lando Norris and team-mate Lewis Hamilton in the process.
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Leclerc targeted Russell on the restart on lap 17 after Audi driver Nico Hulkenberg deployed the safety car, but suffered a sudden oversteer on the final stage that gave the Mercedes driver a one-second advantage at the start of the green-flag run.
When asked about the incident by Motorsport.com, Leclerc said: “It was a very scary moment and I think that’s it.
“I saw George interrupt and I thought ‘OK, this is my chance to get really close on the restart and hopefully take the lead’.
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“So I was pretty confident that I was going to have rear grip, but when I hit the gas I completely lost the car and had ten times more grip than George had at the front and I almost lost it.
charles leclerc, ferrari, lewis hamilton, ferrari, george russell, mercedes
charles leclerc, ferrari, lewis hamilton, ferrari, george russell, mercedes
“Yeah, it’s one of those snaps that you don’t want more of because otherwise you can’t catch it.
“I was totally locked in and luckily I caught it and then the same thing happened in the last corner and George lost a little bit of grip. I was like ‘OK, another chance to try and get close’ and I had the same moment.
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“So after the safety car was deployed, the tires had very little grip in the first two corners.”
Pole position victory gave Russell a perfect start to the season, and he also won the season-opening race in Melbourne last weekend, but Mercedes is undoubtedly under pressure from Ferrari.
Although the Briton has gone 1-2 in both qualifying sessions with Silver Arrows this year, finishing fifth in the sprint with Kimi Antonelli, who finished fifth after a poor start plus a 10-second penalty for a collision with Red Bull’s Isaac Hajjar, Ferrari have closed the gap in the race.
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In Melbourne, for example, Russell and Leclerc had an early battle, with Leclerc finishing third only because Ferrari failed to pit under the virtual safety car.
Charles Leclerc, Ferrari, George Russell, Mercedes
Charles Leclerc, Ferrari, George Russell, Mercedes
So when asked if Ferrari would pose a threat in Sunday’s Chinese Grand Prix, Russell said: “Yes, absolutely. We were a bit surprised by our qualifying strength and perhaps the lack of pace compared to what we expected, but race pace looked very close between us.
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“We saw that last week and I said it in Melbourne, I don’t think we would have won the game if they had used the same strategy as me.
“It was a real battle between us again today, I was pushing at the end of the last three laps and Charles was 0.7 seconds behind me with one more lap to go. It’s going to be a battle, so yeah, we just have to keep pushing, it’s certainly not a walk in the park.”
Qualifying for Sunday’s race will take place later on Saturday, with Russell 11 points ahead of Antonelli and Leclerc, who are tied for second in the championship.
Also read:
Ferrari believes F1 Australian Grand Prix showed real form after ‘tough’ qualifying
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