A race, the umpteenth, all uphill for Charles Leclerc. Bad luck and poor performance of his F1-75, perhaps badly affected by the new one technical directive, hinder a comeback that seemed to allow the number 16 to be able to bet at least in fifth position. The Monegasque crosses the finish line fifth, but after getting out of the car, bad news takes him by surprise.
5 second penalty
Leclerc part 15th, somehow manages to follow in Verstappen's footsteps for a few laps, but on the fourth pass a tear-off visor blocks the cooling of his F1-75, causing it to smoke from the tire. The number 16 stops in the pits, and from there begins a race that can be defined as a single stop. The pace of the red was the worst of the whole season, and Charles could not do better than fifth place. But when he arrived at the finish line he received the communication of one five-second penalty for speeding in the pit lane. Leclerc had returned to wrest a Verstappen the fastest lap, returning to the track behind Alonso, to then overtake him on the last lap. A day to forget for the Monegasque who could have finished fifth, e to aim for one more point, he loses two.
Leclerc worried: "Red Bull far ahead"
“Charles reflected on an unfortunate Sunday, but also not optimal in the future: “The feeling in the first stint with the medium was not bad, but the performance compared to Red Bull this weekend was incredible stuff. I don't know what they found, but they are going really strong. We have to take a good look at this and understand what happened. As for my race, on lap 3 I was ninth and then I had to start over from the back due to the problem and the early pit stop, so from there I knew it was going to be a very difficult race. That's how it is."
"La Red Bull has taken a really big step here, that's for sure. When we look at the normal gaps, even compared to the midfield, it's not that different than before, but Red Bull is far ahead . In the race we were more competitive, but not at their level. Now we need to analyze everything well. It's not a small difference with Red Bull, but a big one".
STATEMENT SOURCE: formulapassion
