Charles Leclerc hopes he won’t remember the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix as the weekend he lost the Formula 1 championship.
A landslide victory for Max Verstappen on Sunday saw the reigning F1 champion almost halve the gap in the standings with Leclerc, who is the leader after winning two of the other three races.
Leclerc could have limited the damage, but a rare mistake by the Ferrari driver cost him a chance to take third place – behind Verstappen and his Red Bull team-mate Sergio Pérez – and he had to settle for sixth.
“I was too greedy, I paid the price and I lost seven potential points, admitted Leclerc. It’s a shame, it’s seven precious points at the end of the championship for sure and it shouldn’t happen again. »
Verstappen also won the sprint race on Saturday to collect maximum points at Imola and reduce his gap with Leclerc from 46 to 27 points.
More worryingly for Ferrari, the Red Bulls looked really fast after making several upgrades ahead of the weekend in Italy. “Only time will tell how many steps they have taken, but for sure they seem to be more competitive than in the first three races, or similar in Jeddah,” Leclerc said. We had the upper hand in Bahrain and Australia, and they had the upper hand this weekend and in Jeddah.
“It’s very, very close,” he added, “and I think it will be that way for the rest of the season and that’s why every little mistake…it’s a big mistake, but actually the consequence considering the error could have been much greater. »
Red Bull’s first double since 2016 is a statement of intent from the team, especially after a frustrating start to the season. Verstappen suffered two retirements in the first three races, while Pérez also failed to complete the first event of the season.
“It’s exactly what we needed to bounce back from Australia. It’s a long season and we’ll take a lot of confidence from this result and try to build on it in Miami in a few weeks time,” said Red Bull team principal Christian Horner.
“Coming here, we attacked at the weekend, we brought a little upgrade — a lot of people said, ‘you shouldn’t do this with just one practice session.’ We believed in ourselves and it paid off. »
Frustrated Hamilton
How well that has paid off will have to be seen, especially with Ferrari set to make its own improvements. It adds to the excitement building ahead of the inaugural Miami Grand Prix on May 8, although Verstappen conceded he could be “very different” at a track designed to enhance the spectacle of racing.
“Of course we are disappointed because we wanted a better result than this in front of all our fans,” said Ferrari team principal Matteo Binotto. It was a tough race. Now we’re looking forward to Miami and a new track, making it an even more appealing prospect. »
One driver who is less than enthusiastic in view of Miami is Lewis Hamilton after another weekend to forget for the seven-time world champion.
Hamilton admitted he was already dropped from the championship chase after his 13and place which leaves him 58 points behind Leclerc. “I’m not particularly looking forward to it right now,” he said of Miami. I’m sure that in the week, I will arrive with a positive frame of mind. I will be at the factory tomorrow to see what we can improve. »
“This weekend, everything that could go wrong went wrong. We live and we learn, and there’s not much else to say. I’m going to keep working as hard as I can to try to get us back together, one way or another. »
Hamilton, F1 record holder with 103 wins and 103 pole positions, lost a record eighth world title on the final lap of the final race last season.
Sign of the delay that he and Mercedes fell on Verstappen, he was overtaken by his rival at Imola. And the height of the insult, Verstappen didn’t even seem excited by his achievement. “They’ve been slow all year, so it’s not really a surprise,” he replied.