Leclerc: “A huge but a good surprise”

Starting from 7th place on the grid Red Bull Rings, Charles Leclerc was struggling to get back to the forefront. The pilot Ferrari nevertheless knew how to take advantage of the racing circumstances with the numerous interruptions to take advantage of them. The Monegasque notably benefited from the abandonment of Max Verstappen (Red Bull), the clash between Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) and Alexander albon (Red Bull) and the fight between Lando Norris (McLaren) and Sergio Pérez (Racing Point) to move up the places.

“It’s a huge surprise, but a good surprise, confided the double Grand Prix winner who won his 11th podium in F1. We did things perfectly today to reach this 2nd place. Lots of things happened with track excursions, yellow flags, safety cars…”

“It was the goal to take advantage of every opportunity because we didn't have the speed to get this result. We still have a lot of work to do because we are far from where we are, but anything is still possible and we must stay strong. It will still take us some time.”, recognized the Monegasque.

Charles Leclerc had to force his driving in the face of an SF1000 with a performance deficit and acute adversity.

“I wanted to be very aggressive, emphasized the Ferrari driver. I was struggling after the first interruption. I was lacking speed between the first and third corners and I knew I couldn't attack in this sector. I knew that I could only gain places if my opponents made mistakes. Lando (Norris) was slowed down by Sergio (Pérez) and I was able to take advantage of it. »

His teammate Sebastian Vettel painfully finished in 10th place. Scuderia Ferrari is in 3rd place in the Constructors' Championship, 18 points behind Mercedes
 
Discover the analysis of the Austrian GP carried out by our special correspondents in issue 2268 of AUTOhebdo, available from Monday evening in digital version on all platforms, and from this Wednesday on newsstands.