Breaking news
Formula 1 Austrian GP
Surprise second "feels like a victory" - Leclerc
Ferrari Formula 1 driver Charles Leclerc says his unexpected second place in the Austrian GP "feels like a victory" after the Italian team struggled for performance all weekend.
Adam Cooper
Edited: Jul 5, 2020, 4:07 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Leclerc could qualify only seventh, but after a strong run in a race of high attrition he moved up to third place on the road at the flag, having passed Lando Norris and Sergio Perez in the closing stages of the race.
A five-second penalty for Lewis Hamilton moved him up to second place.
The Monegasque driver admitted that the result had come as a surprise.
"I'm extremely happy, it feels like a victory today," he said. "I did not expect it either. A nice surprise but a good one. I think we did everything perfect today to be honest to finish second.
"We had a little bit of luck, obviously, with Lewis's penalty. Some crashes here and there and that was a goal to take every opportunity we had even though we, didn't have the pace to to finish where we were I think. P2, I am extremely satisfied and there's still a lot of work to do.
"We are still far away and we are not where we want to be, but anything is possible. So we need to keep the mental strong, all the team work as a team and I'm pretty sure we'll come very well, it will take time."
Read Also:
- Austrian GP: Bottas wins from Leclerc after Hamilton penalty
- Ferrari’s backwards form reopens engine wounds
- Ferrari's qualifying struggles a "surprise" for Vettel
Leclerc said he pushed as hard as he could, given the limitations of the car's performance.
"I wanted to be very aggressive because at every safety car I was struggling at Turn 1 to Turn 3, I knew there was no opportunity for me here.
"But I knew that my opportunity will come if me someone will do a mistake and Lando slowed down a little bit with Sergio and I went for it, and the other one with Sergio was pretty tough but I enjoyed it.
"I would rate this as one of my best races since I arrived in F1, because I didn't do any mistakes."
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Austrian GP: Bottas wins from Leclerc after Hamilton penalty
Next article Albon: Hamilton clash denied me potential race win
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Adam Cooper
RB: Tsunoda “mentally on a different level” in 2024
Formula 1
Formula 1
Japanese GP
Apr 10, 2024
RB: Tsunoda “mentally on a different level” in 2024
Andretti planning F2 and F3 entries to promote US talent to F1 team
Formula 1
Formula 1 Apr 10, 2024
Andretti planning F2 and F3 entries to promote US talent to F1 team
Andretti F1 team formally opens new Silverstone facility
Formula 1
Formula 1 Apr 10, 2024
Andretti F1 team formally opens new Silverstone facility
More from
Charles Leclerc
F1 driver contracts: How long is each driver tied down for?
Formula 1
Formula 1 1 d
F1 driver contracts: How long is each driver tied down for?
Max Verstappen on Ferrari clashes: "I would never sign two number-one drivers"
Formula 1
Formula 1
Sao Paulo GP
2 d
Max Verstappen on Ferrari clashes: "I would never sign two number-one drivers"
Latest news
BMW "proud of what we achieved" after securing runner-up in 2026 WEC
WEC
WEC WEC
Monza
1 h
BMW "proud of what we achieved" after securing runner-up in 2026 WEC
The numbers that reveal how sprint races have turned the MotoGP title fight upside down
MotoGP
MGP MotoGP
Qatar GP
3 h
The numbers that reveal how sprint races have turned the MotoGP title fight upside down
2027 Formula E drivers and teams: The line-up so far
Formula E
FE Formula E 5 h
2027 Formula E drivers and teams: The line-up so far
Kimi Antonelli meets Italian president Sergio Mattarella
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1 5 h
Kimi Antonelli meets Italian president Sergio Mattarella
Feature
Discover prime content
Top 10 F1 cars of the 1970s
Formula 1
By Kevin Turner
Top 10 F1 cars of the 1970s
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe