Charles Leclerc has finished P1 in qualifying on 21 different occasions but has won just 5 races so far in F1. His conversion rate from the pole has not been optimal, and it was on display once again in COTA on Sunday. However, as he said in the post-race interview, Leclerc wants the fans to look past the statistics, especially after what was a horror show in Austin.
Leclerc took the pole on Friday for Sunday’s Grand Prix and the Tifosi was delighted. Keeping Max Verstappen at bay was always going to be difficult. But what the fans didn’t expect was how slow Ferrari was going to be compared to McLaren and Mercedes too.
Additionally, Ferrari put Leclerc on a strategy that affected his pace towards the end of the race. As a result, he finished in P6 despite starting from pole. This was the 10th consecutive race where Leclerc failed to convert his pole position into a win. To make matters worse, a technical infringement on his car meant that he got disqualified.
Charles Leclerc asks fans not to look at statistics
After the race, during an interview, Leclerc urged the fans to look past numbers. He insisted that he gives his best in every session, but in qualifying, things go according to plan. However, in the races, the job does not get done.
“We should stop focusing on these statistics,” he said as per Ferrari news on X. “I always do the job during qualifying, but it always ends up being a bad statistic, because in the race we don’t have a car to win on Sunday.”
https://publish.twitter.com/?query=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2FFanaticsFerrari%2Fstatus%2F1716205503716430284&widget=Tweet
However, a driver of Leclerc’s caliber will not be happy with how slow Ferrari’s race pace is. There are plenty of issues they need to solve in the coming races. These need to be addressed, particularly if Leclerc and Ferrari want to challenge Verstappen for the title in 2024.
Leclerc not fully happy with Ferrari
Leclerc revealed in the same interview, that he is happy with the job Ferrari is doing during qualifying. However, the same cannot be said about their race pace. He added that he hopes for a car that will allow him to finish P1 in both qualifying and in the race. But for now, that’s not possible.
For Ferrari, Austin was bittersweet. While Leclerc’s efforts got nulled, Carlos Sainz managed to sneak in yet another podium. He didn’t know he finished P3 until a long time after the race was over, since his teammate and Lewis Hamilton got disqualified.
Leclerc’s horror show aside, Sainz’s podium was a huge advantage for Ferrari in their battle to get P2 in the constructors” championship.
