Charles Leclerc Never “Expected” a Podium at Ferrari’s ‘Worst Track’ of the Season

Charles Leclerc and Ferrari left the Lusail International Circuit happy, having reduced the deficit to McLaren in the Constructors’ Championship standings. Despite pessimistic expectations that the Qatar GP would be all about damage limitations, it all worked out well for the Scuderia. Leclerc, thankfully, welcomed this ‘unexpected result’ with open arms.

“Unexpected, but I like these kind of unexpected things,” Leclerc told Rosanna Tennant as heard on BBC’s Chequered Flag podcast after finishing P2 in the race. “I really did not expect it”. He added that coming into the weekend, everyone at the team had accepted that they would lose points. So, a podium was not what they were eyeing, or dreamt of achieving.

The layout of the circuit in Qatar does not suit the Ferrari car’s characteristics on paper. It has medium and high-speed corners — two areas in which Ferrari have struggled immensely in 2024. Still, the Maranello-based outfit was able to outscore the McLaren cars.

“We actually recovered points to McLaren,” Leclerc continued. “So I’m really happy for that because its probably the worst track of the season… Now we need to focus on the last weekend of the year.” 

Leclerc did need a stroke of luck to make things go his way, as Lando Norris’ penalty for speeding under the yellow flag dropped him down to last of the remaining runners. The best he could recover to was P10, leaving Leclerc free to fight Oscar Piastri at the front and get second place behind world champion Max Verstappen.

Ferrari take Championship battle to Abu Dhabi

After a 1-2 finish in the Sprint, McLaren extended their lead over Ferrari in the standings to 30 points, and they were 2-3 for a huge portion of the Grand Prix, which should have been enough to effectively seal the deal in their favor.

Charles ️”It would be amazing for us to finish the season by bringing the constructors’ title back to Maranello. It won’t be easy to score the points we need to win the title in a single weekend, but everything is still possible.”

Wrapping up the #QatarGP

— Scuderia Ferrari HP (@ScuderiaFerrari) December 1, 2024

However, Leclerc’s podium and Carlos Sainz’s sixth-place finish got the deficit down to 21 points, which sets the stage for a Championship showdown in Abu Dhabi next weekend.

Of course, Ferrari needs a much better result than the Woking-based squad to win their first constructors’ title since 2008. Both Leclerc and Sainz will have to be at the top of their game, and hope for a slip-up from Norris or Piastri’s end, like what happened in Qatar on Sunday.