Leclerc's hopes of podium in China weighed down by his hard tires

He aimed at it for a long time but finally he looked at it, helpless and without tasting the champagne, which had since become sparkling wine. Sixth on the grid and on a very good pace at the start of the Grand Prix this Sunday, Charles Leclerc applied for the podium in Shanghai. By shifting his strategy to move to a single stop, the Monegasque hoped to place himself behind the Red Bull and accompany Max Verstappen and Sergio Pérez on the box.

Alas, the famous “Plan D” quickly confirmed by his engineer on the radio did not bear fruit. On paper, it was perfectly applied, Ferrari taking advantage of the VSC which later became a pure Safety Car to make the only stop. But what the Team could not anticipate is the lack of performance of the hard compound on Charles Leclerc's SF-24. His hopes of a third podium this season were over, surprised by the renewed form of the McLaren with the same range.

« The performance clearly disappeared from the moment we put on the hard tires, he regretted at the microphone of Canal+. We had a pretty good strategy. Unfortunately, the Safety Car put almost everyone on the same strategy. With the hard tires we found ourselves in much more difficulty compared to our expectations. McLaren was also much faster than expected on the same tires. In mediums, I thought that the podium was achievable but on the second relay I understood that it was not going to be possible."

In the end, Charles Leclerc had to settle for 4^e place while Lando Norris managed to deprive Red Bull of a 4^e doubled this season.

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