Leclerc Reflects: “Things Went South” After Early Las Vegas GP Lead Challenge

Charles Leclerc expressed his frustrations after what could have been a standout race at the Las Vegas Grand Prix, as he slipped from leading the pack to finishing P4.

A Promising Start Turned Sour

Leclerc made an impressive start, overtaking Pierre Gasly of Alpine and teammate Carlos Sainz on the opening lap before setting his sights on leader George Russell. However, a failed attempt to overtake the Mercedes driver saw him fall back, struggling with the medium tires he had pushed too hard. Forced into an early pit stop on Lap 10 of the 50-lap race, Leclerc’s momentum faltered.

Despite stronger performances on his subsequent stints with hard tires, Leclerc couldn’t improve beyond P4, finishing behind teammate Sainz and 2024 World Champion Max Verstappen, whom he briefly passed in the closing laps.

Leclerc’s Analysis

“I was really excited at the start, starting from P2,” Leclerc said post-race. “Unfortunately, things went downhill quickly because I pushed the tires too hard. In the two hard tire stints, we were very strong, but we lost too much time in the first set.”

Radio Frustrations Explained

During a post-race interview with Sky Sports F1, Leclerc was asked about his frustrated radio messages after Ferrari’s pit wall decisions. Notably, Leclerc pitted ahead of Sainz during his second stop but was overtaken by his teammate shortly afterwards.

“Every time there’s frustration like this, it’s clear that there’s no context for everyone,” Leclerc explained. “I don’t need to go into every detail of what was discussed, and I won’t elaborate further.”

Leclerc maintained that the issues didn’t stem from favouritism but rather from discrepancies in communication:
“It’s not about favouring one driver over the other; it’s about what we were told. But it’s okay. I’ve said too much already, so I won’t go deeper into the details.”

Ferrari’s Championship Hopes

Ferrari’s P3 and P4 finishes put them just 24 points behind championship leaders McLaren, who secured P6 and P7 with Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri.

Leclerc reflected on the result:
“It’s good. However, we could have expected a bit more this weekend. Although we knew it would be a strong race for us, we were held back by tire heating issues. Mercedes was just too strong today, much stronger than us.”