Scuderia Ferrari Monegasque driver Charles Leclerc has revealed that in his final stint at the 2021 United States Grand Prix at Circuit of the Americas, his lap times were comparable to a qualifying performance, as Charles tried everything to get close to Red Bull’s Sergio Perez and attempt to grab the final podium position in Austin.
Charles Leclerc eventually finised the race in P4 after an anonymously brilliant performance, trailing the lead trio but most importantly with a solid gap of more than 20 seconds ahead of McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo, as the Maranello team proved more competitive than its main rival.
Not fully satisfied with a place outside the podium, Charles Leclerc set about closing the gap to Sergio Perez, who had been suffering from a stomach bug across the weekend and to compound things further, had his drinks bottle fail in the first part of the United States Grand Prix:
“It was a very difficult race physically. The heat was quite hard and also the bumps were very difficult lap after lap to go over. It was physically very demanding and I could also see Checo that was only eight seconds in front and we were catching him. At one point I really thought the podium was possible so I was really giving everything so the last stint was the most difficult one but we didn’t have any particular issues.” – Charles explained.
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With Carlos Sainz coming home in seventh, Scuderia Ferrari was able to reduce the gap to McLaren in the constructors’ standings to just three and a half points ahead of the Mexico City Grand Prix next week: “The pace was there, every lap was a quali lap and I honestly didn’t leave much on the table so it’s a very, very good day and everything felt very good. But it also shows that we are working in the right direction, that as a team we are doing improvements races after races and that is great to see. How high do I rate this race? I don’t really know. Every race is different but it was definitely a great drive and a great car to drive.” – the Monegasque driver concluded.
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