Formula 1 driver Charles Leclerc doesn’t blame Ferrari officials for late pitstop, missed chance at Turkish GP podium

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Formula 1 driver Charles Leclerc does not point the finger at anyone associated with the Ferrari team.

Leclerc was driving a top 3 car in the wet Turkish Grand Prix on October 10. He knew it. He could feel it.

Then the call came.

It’s time to dig.

What? Now?

Formula 1 driver Charles Leclerc defeated Lewis Hamilton to finish Turkish GP Formula 1 driver Charles Leclerc takes on former NBA player Chris Bosh in a basketball game on October 21 at the ceremony opening of the United States Grand Prix on the circuit of the Americas | Chris Graythen / Getty Images

Leclerc started third on the Istanbul Park grid and managed the wet conditions for the first half of the race to put the team in the field for the 58-lap race.

Tire management became the call of the day as team managers from top to bottom of the pits played with scenarios of the changing track conditions.

Will the surface continue to dry? Or stay wet?

Pit or not?

Different teams have deployed different strategies. Some have worked. Some did not.

Driver Lewis Hamilton was so furious after being ordered to go to the pits; he disobeyed the command at first but then complained. The strategy didn’t work for the reigning four-time F1 champion. Harshly after the race, Hamilton said he had a car in third place, but blamed the late pit call for pushing him back to 5th place.

Leclerc was riding on slick tires and was not at the pit first when most of the field stopped to put on new intermediate tires.

Six laps later, Leclerc felt that the leaders were moving away.

The tires never really came to life after the Leclerc pit stop

“They found a lot of performance – around three seconds per lap – and we had no choice,” Leclerc told formula1.com. “We had to stop” on lap 47.

When he returned to the race, time passed on Leclerc charging at the end of the race, settling for P4, ahead of Hamilton.

F1 analysts immediately jumped at the story of Leclerc missing a podium due to indecision over changing tires along the pit row.

Leclerc did not bite. He did not publicly express any grievances if he had any.

“It’s a bit of a shame because it made us lose the podium, but I don’t regret anything,” said Leclerc. “For the last 10 laps, I was just trying to activate those inters that never really came to life.”

Leclerc maintains a “clear image” of the races, of the team

In 75 career Grand Prix starts, Leclerc has collected two victories and 13 podiums.

Leclerc won back-to-back Formula 2 and Formula 3 titles before making his F1 debut in 2018. The following season he was drafted by Ferrari to replace former world champion Kimi Raikkonen.

P4 in Turkey was nothing new for Leclerc.

It was the fifth time he has achieved a podium spot this season, competing in the United States Grand Prix in Austin, TX on October 24.

Leclerc avoids blaming anyone for a single call.

“I had a clear picture of the race,” he said, “and we made the right choice, or what we thought was the right choice at the time.”

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