Charles Leclerc says that no way Ferrari was bluffing in Saudi Arabia as their plan forced Sergio Perez to pit, and he lost his lead.
Red Bull and Ferrari were vying for the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix after the two teams took the spots in the front two rows. The whole race was about strategy, as both sides had their own advantages and disadvantages.
Red Bull was keeping tabs on Ferrari’s tyre strategy, and at one stage, Charles Leclerc was ready to pit. But Red Bull tried to improvise on that and told Perez to pit.
However, seeing Perez pit, Leclerc didn’t go to the pitlane and continued the race. And in the very next lap, Nicholas Latifi crashed, which brought out the safety car.
At this stage, Leclerc changed his tyres and gained the lead in the race. On the other hand, Perez dropped to P4, which not only cost him his win but a podium too.
Asked whether this was a bluff by Ferrari to force Red Bull to make a panic call. Leclerc denied that this was ever thought, and he would have pitted if Perez hadn’t gone inside.
“No, no. We were ready to pit,” he told the media. “I mean, yes, we basically went for the opposite to Checo [Perez] in front, and he boxed that lap, so yeah, I think we did the right choice.”
Sometimes luck is not on your side, but there’s plenty of positive things from the weekend.
Congrats to @Max33Verstappen on his first win of the season; great team result!
A veces la suerte no está de tu lado, ¡pero hay muchas cosas positivas que rescatar del fin de semana! pic.twitter.com/YqlWs2jPMC
— Sergio Pérez (@SChecoPerez) March 27, 2022
Also read: Helmut Marko reveals what change Red Bull is making to its car to tackle the might of Ferrari
Charles Leclerc happy with his tyres in Jeddah
Leclerc further talks about how reliable his tyres were throughout the race. H admits that it was difficult chasing Perez, and he thought tyres might have taken a toll. But, in reality, they took him till the last mile.
“I think we did a great job by managing those Mediums, because it wasn’t easy following Checo,” he explained. “But, towards the end, we actually had quite a good pace on those Mediums.”
In the end, Leclerc couldn’t match the pace of Max Verstappen and lost his lead against him. Though, the Dutchman had to go through a tiring battle to displace his rival from his spot.
Also read: Ferrari boss gives an idea about how battle between Ferrari and Red Bull will develop
