Relive Charles Leclerc’s fantastic first lap in Abu Dhabi
Charles Leclerc, who started second last, managed the traffic and incidents ahead of him perfectly to gain 11 places on the first lap of the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Surely one of the best opening laps of the season. In Abu Dhabi, Charles Leclerc delivered an incredible performance right from the lights out.
Penalized ten places for changing his battery pack, the Monegasque was starting from the second-to-last position on the grid. A rather difficult situation to manage as the risks of being involved in a collision are quite high.
Six places gained in two corners
But the driver of the number 16 Ferrari perfectly avoided the pitfalls. After passing Alexander Albon right after the start, he took advantage of the Verstappen-Piastri incident to gain two more places. Yuki Tsunoda, who stalled on the grid, also gave him another position. Between these two events, Jack Doohan was overtaken at the first corner, as was Guanyu Zhou, who went too wide. He is already in thirteenth place.
Then, Charles Leclerc took advantage of better acceleration to overtake Lewis Hamilton at the exit of the second corner. He then launched an attack on Lance Stroll’s Aston Martin at the end of the first sector.
Three overtakes in one braking
Now onto the long straight of the Yas Marina circuit where the third place in the world championship made one of the best moves of the season. At the braking point, he got the better of Liam Lawson, Valtteri Bottas, and Sergio Perez, all fighting for eighth place. A position that Charles Leclerc secured by being smarter and more strategic than the others.
On the 34th lap, the member of the Scuderia moved up to third place and held it until the end of the race.
11 places gagnées lors du 1er tour 😱
Le départ incroyable de Charles Leclerc à Abu Dhabi !#AbuDhabiGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/pRJR5ZbqYi
— CANAL+ F1® (@CanalplusF1) December 11, 2024
