Leclerc reveals Azerbaijan GP crash fear
Charles Leclerc revealed that he was afraid he would crash in the closing stages of the Azerbaijan Grand Prix after he lost all grip on his hard tyres.
The Ferrari driver made a strong start from pole position at the Baku Street Circuit and built a healthy advantage in the opening stint.
Leclerc was one of the last of the front-running drivers to pit for hard tyres on lap 16 and comfortably retained the lead.
However, Piastri overtook the Monégasque four laps later for the lead of the race. Despite coming close, Leclerc failed to reclaim the lead.
Ultimately, he pushed his hard tyres too much, resulting in Leclerc being forced to defend aggressively ahead of Sergio Perez and Carlos Sainz to salvage second place.
Perez and Sainz ended up crashing out on the penultimate lap, relieving all pressure from Leclerc, who revealed after the race that he realised Piastri was too strong.
“I think as soon as we put the hard tyres on,” Leclerc said. “On the medium, we were very competitive, and the car felt good.
“Unfortunately, we didn’t do any high-fuel running on my side in FP1 or FP2, and we went for a direction that maybe in the race was a bit more difficult to manage, especially on the hard tyres.
“I was really struggling to just keep those rear tyres. And towards the end I really thought that in one corner or two, I thought that I will put it in the wall. It was very close.
“But second today, McLaren and Oscar have done an exceptional job and have been better than us. It’s obviously a huge shame for Carlos on the last lap, but hopefully everybody is okay.”
Leclerc accepts mistake
Leclerc sat within one-second of Piastri for over 25 laps after falling behind the Australian driver, a moment he accepts as his fault.
The 26-year-old conceded that he did not defend enough into the first corner on lap 20 when Piastri made his move.
The Ferrari driver had hoped to retake the lead later in the race, however, getting close to Piastri along the 2.2 km main straight was too difficult.
Leclerc enjoyed fighting Piastri for such a long period but recognises he has a mistake to learn from.
“It is enjoyable because you’ve got many, many opportunities that every lap,” added Leclerc. “I think maybe McLaren had a little bit less downforce.
“So in the straights they were very quick, in the corners, we were a bit quicker. But at the end, I thought that when Oscar overtook me, I was like, ‘Okay, now it’s just a matter of staying calm, trying to keep those tyres and overtake him again later on’.
“But actually it was a lot more difficult than that, and in the straights, I couldn’t get as close as I wanted.
“To be honest, we lost the race where I didn’t quite defend as well as I should have at the end of the straight. But it is the way it is. Sometimes you do mistakes and I learn from it.”
