Charles Leclerc was the third classified in the sprint race of the United States Grand Prix in Formula 1. The Ferrari driver launched a strong attack on Max Verstappen (Red Bull) at the start, but in the process was overtaken by Lewis Hamilton and did not have the means to recover the position.
In a statement, the Monegasque driver said that he was inferior in race pace compared to Hamilton’s Mercedes, which requires work: ‘There was an opportunity at the start, so I took it and tried to overtake Max in the first corner. I lost a position to Lewis there, the Mercedes was a bit stronger in terms of race pace than expected, so now we have to work to be one step ahead for the race’.
With information available to improve for Sunday’s race, Leclerc emphasized that victory is the goal – especially since he starts from pole position: ‘We have a lot of data available to analyze, as we had both cars on different strategies, which helped us gain a perspective on the behavior of the soft compound. Hopefully this will give us an advantage in the race and we will do everything we can to bring the victory home’.