Even after pulling off an impressive position on Friday’s qualification, Charles Leclerc failed to keep the momentum going in the Austrian GP Sprint race on Saturday. Despite having an average qualification, the Monegasque couldn’t build up on that and hence lost out on points finish.
Formula 1 is in Austria for the ninth race of the 2023 season. What was supposed to be a brilliant weekend for the 25-year-old and his team, was reduced to dust after a dismal performance from him.
Leclerc spent most of his time fighting with Alpine’s Esteban Ocon after he was given a P9 start despite qualifying in P6 in the Sprint shootout. This was because FIA penalized him for impeding Oscar Piastri.
The Monegasque driver’s teammate added more salt to his wound as the Spanish driver finished in P3, claiming a handsome six points. In the end, Leclerc had nobody but to express disappointment in himself.
Leclerc struggled throughout the race
The second Sprint race of the season at Spielberg had been a wet weather race. With rain being a constant guest at the Red Bull Ring and surrounding areas, the drivers found getting going very tough initially.
Despite this, Leclerc looked to improve, but he was held off by an agile Ocon throughout the race. As the 25-year-old was trying to go past the Frenchman, he had chances of losing his place to an upgraded Lando Norris.
A tricky day for @charles_leclerc, but we’ve got the main event tomorrow ✌️ #AustrianGP 🇦🇹 #F1 pic.twitter.com/i7v87D7atq
— Scuderia Ferrari (@ScuderiaFerrari) July 1, 2023
In the end, Leclerc finished the race in P12 and was outside of points. Whereas Ocon and Norris had P7 and P9 finishes. Talking about this in the post-race interview, the Ferrari driver said that he only had himself and the conditions to blame.
Furthermore, the 25-year-old added that he was not at the level he wanted to be in these sorts of conditions and felt he needs to improve and be better in these conditions. Leclerc also added that he began to lose feeling with the car.
Despite the Sprint debacle, Leclerc hopeful of a better Sunday
In spite of having one of the toughest races this season, the Monegasque driver is hopeful of having a better race on Sunday.
With most of the points still up for grabs at the race, the star driver will be waiting to see a miracle similar to the 2023 Canadian Grand Prix where they started from P10 and P11 and finished the race in P4 and P5.
Given, Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz both start from P2 and P3, it’ll be interesting to see if they can hold on to the podiums places. As for the Monegasque, he needs these points if he wants to close the gap to his teammate because closing in on Max Verstappen seems unlikely from here on.
