Charles Leclerc is far from happy with his performances in 2023 even though he finished the season ahead of his Ferrari teammate, Carlos Sainz. Winning the intra-team battle was not enough for the Monegasque driver, given he could not register a single race win throughout 2023. With Sainz standing as the only non-Red Bull driver to register a race win in the season gone by, the sting of not winning the Singapore GP still hurts Leclerc.
Speaking in an interview quoted in a report by Marca, Leclerc detailed his views about feeling disappointed to have not won the Singapore GP. Leclerc revealed how a poor tire choice for the start of the race cost him, and a different approach might have led to a better result.
“That was where I didn’t get the classification right, which in the end cost me the race. But it was very important for the team because, as a whole, we did everything well“, explained Leclerc.
The 26-year-old admitted to opting for the soft tires to overtake George Russell as soon as he could instead of opting for a strategy to help Sainz. In retrospect, Leclerc feels he should have done what was best for the team rather than thinking about his personal goals.
Charles Leclerc reveals why he failed to win the Las Vegas GP
The first-ever Las Vegas GP produced one of the best races of the season, with Charles Leclerc, Max Verstappen, and Sergio Perez fighting for a race win till the end. While the Dutchman won the race, Leclerc did not finish too far behind in second.
Talking about the same, Leclerc believes a race win was on the cards for him if it weren’t for the second safety car. Before the second safety car came out on Lap 27 of the race, Leclerc had a two-second lead over Verstappen while also having the advantage of driving on newer tires, meaning he could add to his lead once the Dutchman would pit.
“I really believe that without the Safety Car, the win was ours. We had a really good first stint on the medium and we had five laps’ newer hards than Max [Verstappen]”, explained the Monegasque.
However, the safety car meant both Red Bull drivers could go into the pit without losing much time to the race leader and stay in contention for a race win. Post the race, Leclerc displayed mixed emotions as he was happy with his performance on the night but was also disappointed that he could not achieve a better finish.
