Charles Leclerc to take Imola error as learning opportunity after examining data behind it. Charles to take Imola error as learning opportunity.

Scuderia Ferrari Monegasque driver Charles Leclerc admitted that he is determined to learn lessons from his error at the Imola circuit in the last race of the 2022 Formula 1 championship, which meant the Ferrari driver lost  podium finish in the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix in front of the tifosi, due to a spin.

Charles was able to continue the race after hitting the tyre barriers but had to return to the pits to change the front wing and returned on track in ninth place, recovering to sixth until the end.

In an interview after the Emilia Romagna GP, Charles Leclerc looked back at the mistake  from his perspective, while vowing to learn from the incident.

The Ferrari driver was pushing hard on fresh soft tyres as he attempted to overtake the Red Bull of Sergio Perez, but the  aggressive strategy unfortunately backfired:

“I saw the opportunity that, before, I didn’t think it was there. It was very clear to me that I think third place was what was possible. But I saw the opportunity, and I still tried it. I went a bit quicker in Turn 14/15, took too much kerb, and spun. All points count and, today, I’ve [thrown] away seven points now, against the 15 that we [could have] had if I had finished third.” – the Ferrari driver explained.

At the same time, the Monegasque driver remained philosophical about having Max Verstappen reduce the gap between them in the championship from 46 to 27 points in just one race and confirmed he analyzed the data weekend from the spin:

“Every point is important, so I will learn from this for the future. The way it is now, I’ve analysed the data, I know what I’ve done, and I’ll move on.” – he added.

As Charles Leclerc was chasing Sergio Perez and attemping to get second place and trying to remain within one second to use the Drag Reduction System (DRS), the Monegasque was asked if he feels he had taken a risk too great in his attempts to take P2 from the Mexican driver:

“I don’t think particularly more risk,” he said, explaining that he had felt strong through the Variante Alta throughout the entire weekend. I was quick there and the car felt good there, especially in the race. I felt like it was probably one of the corners where Checo [Perez] was a bit less competitive than me and obviously, on that lap, I knew that there was an opportunity, so I tried to push a bit more and it was too much. But, apart from that, I don’t think I’ve taken any unnecessary risk [compared to] other laps during the weekend whatsoever. Everything was OK on that side.” – Charles Leclerc concluded.