Leclerc’s blunder costs him third
World champions know they can’t win every race – and when they can’t win, they must settle for scoring as best they can. Leclerc knows this too, which is why he was so frustrated to lose control of his Ferrari so clumsily at the Variante Alta chicane on lap 54 of 63. Third would have been fine. In fact, it was the best he could have hoped for on a day and a circuit that simply played to Red Bull’s strengths. Why did he throw it away?
Leclerc had dropped from the front row to fourth at the start, climbed back to third, but then failed to undercut Perez at the pitstops, emerging ahead of ‘Checo’ but finding himself powerless to stop the Mexican quickly re-passing as he desperately tried to get some heat into his fresh slicks. The costly mistake came shortly afterwards in his desperation to challenge the Red Bull.
The stop for a new nose dropped him to ninth, and although Leclerc recovered to sixth by the end, he’d tossed away seven points – seven points he knows might prove crucial come the end of the season if his battle with Verstappen goes to the wire. Unforced errors are the bane of sportspeople’s lives. It happens because they are human. But for those competing at the pinnacle, where the margins are so fine, they are also unforgiveable. Leclerc just needs to learn from this one, put it behind him and move on.