From a moment of luck, when he ended up in the gravel during the formation lap, to a moment when perhaps he thought too much. Charles Leclerc’s race, who eventually finished fourth in a spectacular Imola Grand Prix, can be summed to like this. The Monegasque fought and confirmed that Ferrari is growing. Yet, at the moment of the restart after the Bottas-Russell accident, there was a moment in which, perhaps, he could have passed Max Verstappen.
It happened when the Dutchman lost to control of Red Bull. A moment, very short, in which Charles Leclerc preferred to keep his position. On the contrary, if the Ferrari driver had gone ahead when the Dutchman was off the track, the Red Bull would have had to stay behind in compliance with the regulations in force under the safety car regime.
On the other hand, it is also true that it was an extreme situation, because the Red Bull car didn’t seem totally off the track. That situation, however, seems to have distracted Charles Leclerc who then, at the restart, could not be coordonated from the pitwall due to a radio issue and lost a place to Lando Norris.
An episode that does not take anything away from the excellent performance offered by Scuderia Ferrari, as the Maranello team can also be pleased with Carlos Sainz’s comforting fifth place. The Spaniard redeemed himself after the elimination in Q2 on Saturday with a very aggressive race, especially in the second half. In short, taking into consideration all of these aspects, there is no doubt that after the checkered flag in Imola, for Ferrari the glass is half full. Indeed, more than half full.
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