After shedding a spot to George Russell at the beginning whereas combating Ferrari team-mate Carlos Sainz, Leclerc made early progress utilizing a one-stop technique to maneuver as much as fourth.
However, having been predicted to be the workforce closest to Pink Bull on race tempo, each Ferraris had been unable to make any additional positive aspects, as Leclerc finished off the podium – 4.5 seconds behind Sergio Perez in third and practically 10s off McLaren’s Lando Norris in second.
Leclerc didn’t perceive Ferrari’s tempo drop on the hards, having switched his mediums for this compound after 21 laps, which left him unable to problem the podium finishers.
“I do not assume we discovered it [the pace] as a workforce, particularly on the laborious tyres, which is a bit unusual as a result of the power of this automotive for the reason that starting of the yr is it’s totally stable in all situations with all tyres,” Leclerc stated.
“At present is a bit an outlier as a result of, as quickly as we placed on the hards, we had been half a second off. In order that may be very unusual.
“We’ll look into it and attempt to perceive what went flawed on that run.”
Charles Leclerc, Scuderia Ferrari
Picture by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images
After his pitstop, and as soon as the 2 security automotive intervals concluded, Leclerc stated he was aiming to battle Norris and due to this fact a possible runner-up end, however simply couldn’t match the tempo of the McLaren or Pink Bull on the laborious tyres.
“It’s extremely unusual, particularly in contrast with the McLaren – with Lando at first, I actually thought we had been going to struggle with him,” he added.
“I used to be doing good tyre administration till the security automotive that reset it a little bit bit, all methods, which is a little bit of a disgrace as a result of I feel we had been doing a superb job after which, on the laborious, we had been simply gradual.
“We had been anticipating this weekend to be very related or according to no matter we have seen for the reason that starting of the season, however we had been struggling fairly a bit extra.”