A formidable but insufficient comeback to the podium for Leclerc and Ferrari: "We did the maximum"

Charles Leclerc could hardly have done better this Sunday. The Monegasque finished 3rd in the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, a fantastic performance considering he started from 19th position on the grid! Aware of the stakes for the Constructors' Championship, the eight-time Grand Prix winner gave it his all with a cannon start (11 positions gained in the first lap!) and daring overtaking. An offensive drive, combined with a risky one-stop strategy with a pit stop fairly early in the race, which allowed him to climb back up to the podium.

Alas, faced with a Lando Norris Imperturbable and imperial at Yas Marina, Charles Leclerc and Ferrari could do nothing. The delay of the Team on McLaren was too important before the start. Inevitably disappointed by this defeat, the Monegasque greeted his teammate Carlos Sainz, with whom he has collaborated for the last four seasons, and is not yet looking ahead to 2025, when he will be associated with Lewis Hamilton.

Charles Leclerc (Ferrari), 3rd in the Abu Dhabi GP : “I knew I had to be aggressive, so I had to take all the risks on the first lap to gain as many positions as possible and to be in a good position for the rest of the race. That’s what we did, but unfortunately we started too far back to do better than what we did today. We did the maximum. It hurts, of course, because the season was so close until the end, and it was hard to take on Friday when we knew we had to take the penalty. Despite that, we still gave it our all and we failed very close to our goal. It’s a shame but in the end, we tried everything.”

“If you look at our first part of the season, we were not in the fight for the Constructors’ Championship at all. The second part of the season was really good and the team did an incredible job, Carlos and I did a great job together as well. We are finishing strong and I am sure that next year we will start as strong as the way we finished this year.”

“Lewis has achieved so much in this sport, so that will be a big motivation for me. Right now, I look back on the past year and the years with Carlos, we had an incredible relationship, we pushed each other. I really hoped to finish these four years together with this Constructors’ title, we gave everything but it wasn’t enough. The disappointment is there. I will have 4-5 days to recover and to think about next season.”

ALSO READ > Lando Norris wins the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, the Constructors' title for McLaren!