There was a very thin line between the dream of a sensational victory and a vanished podium in the last few laps. Charles Leclerc’s Turkish Grand Prix can be considered as a glass half full: on the one hand a formidable pace at the level of Mercedes and Red Bull, at times even better, on the other another a good result lost in the final stages, just like two weeks ago in Russia.
The risk of not stopping to put on new intermediates has ‘dazzled’ the minds of the engineers in the pitwall and of the Monegasque himself, and at first it seemed paradoxically to be the right move. Those who run win fresh tires were even slower, in the first laps, than those who stayed out, but then the tread worn on the edge of the carcass was decisive and Charles could not do anything to defend the lead against Bottas.
The late choice of the pit stop also cost that podium almost certain after the first half of the race, with Sergio Perez’s Red Bull ready to seize the opportunity at the first try. By now we have learned to know Charles Leclerc: from his point of view the glass is more empty than full, but it is clear that at this moment Ferrari has the duty to try something different to have a chance to win, at least in individual races.
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“We tried to go all the way without stopping – the Monegasque driver said at the end of the race – The intermediates were strange: when everyone put the new ones on, we went faster than them in the first 6-7 laps. We said to ourselves that maybe there wasn’t much to gain by stopping, but after another six or seven laps you go beyond the graining and there is the performance gained with the new intermediate. At that moment we stopped because we were losing too much, but by now it was too late” – he explained.
“In the end, I struggled a lot because I was in that area where there was a lot of graining. When I got out I felt that there was very little rear grip. Then I also had graining up front and this rebalanced the car, but it was late and already 5-6 seconds behind Perez. We certainly had a good car today, especially in the first stint. The second stint is difficult to judge because the tires weren’t in the right place. Positive weekend in general, but obviously I’m a bit disappointed by the end “he concluded.
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