Ferrari’s Leclerc frustrated after “slow” Las Vegas race despite points gain
Charles Leclerc couldn’t hide his disappointment after finishing fourth in Las Vegas, a result that came only after McLaren’s double disqualification bumped him up from sixth place.
“It’s still very frustrating to only finish P6 when you start P9,” the 28-year-old Ferrari driver admitted after the race.
The Monegasque driver looked downbeat in the paddock despite gaining positions from his P9 starting spot.
Leclerc had to get aggressive on track to make up ground. “I had to take massive risks to overtake because we were very, very slow on the straight,” he explained. “So on that side, it was an entertaining race.”
But strategy questions left him puzzled about what could have been.
“I don’t really understand what happened around the pit stop, but it seems that we’ve lost quite a few places,” he said. “We’ll look back at that whether we could have done something better.”
His teammate Lewis Hamilton also benefited from McLaren’s misfortune, moving up from P10 to P8 in the final classification.
## Ferrari’s constructor battle takes a hit
The extra points were welcome, but Mercedes came out even better. George Russell and Kimi Antonelli were promoted to second and third, pushing Mercedes 53 points ahead of Ferrari in the constructors’ championship.
Ferrari is now desperately clinging to second place with just two races remaining.
Pit strategy seems to have cost Leclerc dearly. After his stop, he emerged behind Oscar Piastri and couldn’t get past him or Antonelli, who successfully stretched his tire life to the checkered flag.
“I think Oscar was behind me after the first stint,” Leclerc said, looking confused about how the positions changed. “In the car, I was surprised to see Oscar in front, when I thought he was behind me for the stop.”
The timing of his pit stop is now under review by the team.
“We’ll review that,” he confirmed.
Leclerc currently sits fifth in the drivers’ championship with 226 points as Ferrari looks to bounce back next weekend in Qatar.
