“On one hand it‘s probably one of my best performances ever in F1, but on the other hand”– Charles Leclerc finds no happiness in Austria.
Charles Leclerc had an early unfortunate incident during the race with Pierre Gasly, which directly sent him to the back of the grid, and it seemed like another disastrous run for Ferrari this weekend.
.@F1 | GP ESTÍRIA 🇦🇹
💥 Choque entre @Charles_Leclerc e @PierreGASLY
🔚 Fim de corrida para Gasly.#F1ELEVEN pic.twitter.com/VcLttVYviP
— ELEVEN Portugal (@ElevenSports_PT) June 27, 2021
However, Charles Leclerc kept composure and sealed a P7 win, the position from which he started, propelling fans to vote him as the driver of the day. But the Monegasque driver found no pleasure in this achievement.
Your #F1DriverOfTheDay
It’s Charles! 🙌#StyrianGP 🇦🇹 @Charles_Leclerc pic.twitter.com/34gPK078jl
— Formula 1 (@F1) June 27, 2021
“A bittersweet feeling to be honest. On the one hand, it‘s probably one of my best performances ever in F1, but on the other hand, fuck. Only a P7,” said Leclerc during the driver of the day interview.
“I wish we were fighting a bit more at the front but unfortunately what happened in the first lap, that‘s where we finished. But on the other hand, I had so much fun, so many overtakes. The pace was incredible.”
Ferrari bounced back
Ferrari had an underwhelming Saturday in Austria, as Leclerc was not the only one to be in deep waters, his teammate Carlos Sainz was eliminated in Q2, and had to satisfy himself with a P12 start for Sunday.
Yet, the Spaniard persevered and secured a P6, bagging a 14-point haul, while, McLaren could only take away 10 points from the race. So the race for P3 has further been tightened.
Spielberg since the first day of this weekend didn’t seem like a stronghold of Ferrari, and it wasn’t surprising that they would struggle against their rivals.
However, they managed to hold themselves together and managed to find the gains from wherever they could. But next week, at the same venue, Ferrari has to improve their output to still be in reach of McLaren.