Charles Leclerc was left to ponder what might have been at the end of the Las Vegas Grand Prix after going from a challenge for the lead to finishing where he started in fourth.
Leclerc caught the eye when the lights went out by jumping both Alpine’s Pierre Gasly and Ferrari team mate Carlos Sainz into Turn 1, before he launched an attack on leader George Russell.
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Following a failed pass on the Mercedes, Leclerc dropped back and was soon overtaken by the cars he had passed – struggles with his medium tyres, which he had pushed too hard, forcing him into the pits by Lap 10 of 50.
2024 Las Vegas Grand Prix: Russell holds the lead as Leclerc jumps from fourth to P2 on the race start
Leclerc fared better over the next two stints on hard tyres but could ultimately achieve no more than P4, crossing the line between Sainz and 2024 world champion Max Verstappen, whom he passed with a few laps to spare.
“I mean, I was very excited at the start [in] P2, then unfortunately everything started to go very quickly wrong, because I pushed too much on the tyres,” Leclerc said afterwards. “On the two other sets of hard we were very strong, but we lost too much on the first [set].”
In an interview with Sky Sports F1, Leclerc was asked to expand on the frustrated radio messages he sent to the Ferrari pit wall after the race, having emerged from his later second stop ahead of Sainz before being re-passed almost immediately.
“I mean, every time there’s these kind of frustrations, obviously there’s not the background for everybody,” he commented. “There’s just no need for me to go into details of everything that’s discussed. I won’t go further into that discussion.
Leclerc could not hide his disappointment as he spoke to the media post-race
“Frustrating, yes, however it doesn’t change anything for the team. It’s okay. I think I did my part on the first stint obviously. When I had the tyres that were completely gone, I didn’t want to fight at that point, I let Carlos by. The rest we will discuss within the team.”
Pressed on whether he felt Sainz had been favoured by the team, he added: “No, no, no, it’s not about favouring one or the other, it’s about things that we have been told. But that’s all good. Again, I’ve already said too much, so I don’t want to go into the details whatsoever.”
Ferrari’s P3 and P4 finishes mean they are now just 24 points behind championship leaders McLaren, who wound up sixth and seventh with Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri respectively.
“It’s good,” he said of the situation. “However, we maybe expected a bit more coming into the weekend. We knew that it was going to be a good race for us. We had the worry of tyre warm-up, which has been confirmed. Mercedes was just very, very strong, and too strong for us today.”