Nov 26, 2023 at 7:42 PM Update: 14 minutes ago
Charles Leclerc was disappointed on Sunday after the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix that his trick to let Sergio Pérez past turned out wrong. The Monegasque hoped that Pérez would finish ahead of George Russell due to his time penalty, but that failed.
The 26-year-old Leclerc did this with a view to the team championship. Ferrari ultimately fell three points short of beating Mercedes and therefore finished third (409 to 406).
“We had to find a way to make ‘Checo’ finish five seconds ahead of George,” said Leclerc. “I already tried to help him by giving him DRS and a slipstream, but unfortunately that was not enough.”
Leclerc then let Pérez pass, but the Mexican still finished behind Russell in fourth place after his time penalty. If Pérez had finished ahead of Russell, it would have cost Mercedes three crucial points.
In that case, Ferrari and Mercedes would have finished on an equal number of points. Because Ferrari has won more races than Mercedes this season, the Italian racing team would have taken second place in the teams championship.
‘It’s a shame we weren’t rewarded’
Leclerc looked back on his race with mixed feelings. “On the one hand, I am very satisfied. In a weekend like this, we did everything right as a team. I don’t think it was a certainty at all that we had the second-fastest car this weekend,” continued the five-time Grand Prix winner. winner.
“The team has done a great job with the strategy and also with qualifying. It’s just a shame that we are not rewarded for that in the team championship. That was our main goal and we did not achieve it.”
Max Verstappen convincingly won the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, the last race of the season. The Formula 1 season starts next year on March 2 with the Bahrain Grand Prix.
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Summary: Verstappen crowns historic season with victory in Abu Dhabi
2023-11-26 18:42:00
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