Charles Leclerc came agonizingly close to achieving his first win of the 2023 season at the Las Vegas Grand Prix on Saturday but failed to do so because of an element of misfortune. The Monegasque believes that the safety car ruined his moment with his rivals getting a cheap pit stop.
As quoted by gazzetta.it, the 26-year-old said, “Today we were certainly the fastest on the track. In terms of race pace, it was the best Ferrari of the year. The SC took away a victory from us which for I was certain. Happy for the overtaking on the last lap, but fighting with those very cold tires was really difficult“.
Leclerc believes his side had the fastest car as Ferrari were quick in all conditions, especially on the medium tires. Moreover, with the degradation being low for the tires of Ferrari, Leclerc perhaps could have grabbed a win had it not been for the safety car.
The safety car came out after Lando Norris had a huge crash into the barriers. While the Briton escaped relatively unscathed, there was a huge amount of debris on the track. Since the safety car was out for a few laps, it gave Max Verstappen and Red Bull the perfect opportunity to have a cheap second pit stop.
Leclerc was not happy with the same as the safety car not only minimized the Monegasque’s lead at the front but also helped Verstappen and Red Bull come out on seven-lap fresher tires. Moreover, the Ferrari driver also felt hard done by the Dutchman just receiving a five-second stop-and-go penalty.
Charles Leclerc explains why Max Verstappen was lucky
Charles Leclerc believes that the FIA should have asked Max Verstappen to give him the place back instead of giving a five-second penalty. The Monegasque believes that the penalty did not help much as it gave the Red Bull driver the opportunity to nurse his tires in free air.
“I just think that in those kind of situations, it would be better for the FIA to ask to give the place back because I think there’s quite a bit of an advantage to take care of tires when you have free air,” explained Leclerc (as quoted by racefans.net). On the other hand, Verstappen believes that the penalty was fair.
Considering that Leclerc had much better tires than Verstappen and also repassed the Dutchman during the first stint, the penalty perhaps did not matter much in the end. Instead, it was the safety car that really hampered Leclerc’s chances of winning the race.
