Charles Leclerc doesn’t laugh, fury Carlos Sainz

Charles Leclerc can’t quite enjoy the podium at Spa: “The weekend was pretty good in terms of pace. The race went well for me but a pity for Carlos Sainz. If we look at Red Bull there is still a lot of work to do especially in terms of pace, they are better in terms of tire degradation.”

“I thought I was keeping Hamilton at bay, but in the final I struggled because they told me to save fuel. Then when I knew he was going to come in to try to do the fastest lap, life was easier,” concluded the Monegasque.

Great disappointment for Carlos Sainz, who retired, “I had a good start and was about to pass Hamilton, but Piastri touched me. For me it’s his mistake dictated by inexperience, because we all know that you always risk too much at that point. So there was this accident and I was the one who lost out. We stayed so long on the track in the hope that a red flag stop would allow us to take action on the damage I had. That did not happen and so all I could do was return to the pits and turn the car off. I am sorry because the Ferrari performed better today and I could have fought for the podium.”

Team principal Frederic Vasseur finally analyzed the situation to Sky’s microphones, “Overall I think it’s a good weekend because we had a good pace in every situation, wet, dry, fast lap. From the drivers’ point of view it is so-so because Leclerc had a good pace, from the pole position, good pit stops. For Carlos it was over after one corner, we kept the car on track hoping for a red flag that didn’t come, Piastri from behind was a little too optimistic.”

“It was very difficult to get a clear picture of the race because we hadn’t done simulations, we were all a bit blind because we didn’t know what the tire response would be. However, the pit wall reacted well, now let’s take two weeks off with this weekend in mind. Let’s think about the vacations, then Holland and Monza. The margins are tight, they said Mercedes was flying last week and today we did better. We are not World Champions today and we were not losers when we suffered. We have to fix some details, we have to keep in mind that Verstappen is way ahead.”