Former Formula 1 driver Jolyon Palmer on how Scuderia Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc pulled off so many overtakes in superb Styrian GP recovery:
“Charles Leclerc was in the thick of the action at the Styrian Grand Prix, hitting Pierre Gasly at the start and dropping to the back of the field, before pulling off a superb recovery to cement a strong Sunday for Ferrari, as he finished seventh behind team mate Carlos Sainz.
Leclerc has been brilliant for Ferrari, leading the team with some stunning qualifying performances, which have been his greatest strength. He’s also been involved in a few incidents though, the latest of which put him on the back foot in Austria.
When a driver is on the back foot, with the race seemingly gone, it can go one of two ways: either they wilt and feel all is lost, and lose that final bit of drive to push the car to its maximum for lap after lap; or they get red mist, the bit between their teeth and put in an aggressive, no second chances recovery charge. It was the latter we saw from Leclerc on Sunday.
His recovery was all very under the radar until he pitted for a second time and came out on a fresh set of medium tyres on lap 37 of the 71.
At this point everybody ahead apart from his team mate, who did an exceptionally long first stint, was on a used hard tyre.
Leclerc now had a fresher set of tyres, a softer compound, and a Ferrari car that was unusually very kind on its tyres in Austria, a week after having horrendous degradation in the French Grand Prix. The commitment he drove with was important as he charged through the field in a clinical manner, only once needing a second chance to pass a car – AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda, whom he nearly cleared at the first time of asking around the outside of Turn 4.
He was so strong on the brakes, which was a particular feature as he time and again dived towards the apex at Turn 3, from miles back on all his rivals.
He either made it through there, catching drivers by surprise as everybody else was seeking the conventional, later apex line to get the exit, or he managed to use his fresher tyres to get amazing traction off the corner as well, and pass his rival with the help of DRS down to Turn 4.
By diving straight to the apex he reduced his cornering distance and also importantly meant that as he entered the corner he wasn’t directly behind the driver ahead, meaning he had less dirty air than usual for a driver lining up an overtake, which helped him be late on the brakes and be able to stop the car at the apex to get a good exit as well, using his fresher tyres.
It also possibly helps to distract the driver ahead as they see a flash of red in their mirrors, diving for the apex. Even if Leclerc wasn’t close enough for a move, it can put the driver ahead off, which can lead to mistakes. Sebastian Vettel, for example, had a big lock-up which allowed Leclerc through and this was possibly a cause.”
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