Charles Leclerc, very solid, carries Ferrari for his last race

Charles Leclerc confirmed his return to form with a second place finish in Abu Dhabi. The Monegasque driver carried his team, nearly enough to allow Ferrari to surpass their competitors in the constructor standings. The 26-year-old athlete also had a close battle with Max Verstappen for a lap and even came close to overtaking him. Ultimately, after the Dutchman pulled away, Charles Leclerc held his position without making any mistakes.

New strong qualifications

Charles Leclerc was almost impeccable in qualifying. After being very impressive in the last two practice sessions, he confirmed Ferrari’s form in the qualifying sessions. Although Max Verstappen snatched the pole position from him, after spending FP2 and FP3 in the middle of the standings.

If he wasn’t imperial during Q1 (10th position), the Monegasque finally gained momentum. For the second session, he finished third before securing the front row in Q3. He quickly put Ferrari in an advantageous position unlike Mercedes.

A nearly perfect strategy

Charles Leclerc had a rather uneventful race. His good start allowed him to challenge Max Verstappen for a few turns. Once the Dutchman pulled away, Charles Leclerc widened the gap with third place to have a smoother race. “I wanted to try and reclaim that first place, but we also knew that in the race, we would lack pace,” explained the Scuderia driver during the traditional podium interview. “We knew that if we overtook Max at that moment, he would probably have overtaken us again 3 or 4 laps later, so my only goal was to really beat the Mercedes and I didn’t want to lose too much tire performance fighting against Max, but it was fun.”

At the end of the race, Charles Leclerc attempted everything in order to help Ferrari surpass Mercedes in the constructor’s championship. After learning that Sergio Perez, in 3rd place, was penalized, the 26-year-old driver tried to overtake him, hoping that the Mexican would cross the finish line with more than five seconds ahead of Russell. « I tried everything, I knew that in any case, without doing anything, it would be difficult », explained Charles Leclerc. « Checo had a penalty, 5 seconds for Checo, so I had to try to help him as much as possible. He had to be at least 5 seconds ahead of George for us to secure the 2nd place in the constructor’s championship. First, I gave him the DRS. Then I even thought about trying to slow down Russell in sector 3, but it was very easy to make a mistake and finish in 3rd place, so I didn’t force it. »

Optimism for 2024

At the end of the race, despite the poor result from a points perspective, Ferrari was satisfied with their driver’s performance. « “I think it was a great race from Charles,” praised Frederic Vasseur to Canal +. « “He did everything he could in the end. He even let Perez through to see if Perez could close the 5-second gap on Russell. I don’t think we should be disappointed. It’s one of the first times we’re really fighting with Red Bull during a race, so we should keep that in mind for next year.” »

After this very encouraging double performance in Las Vegas and Abu Dhabi, Charles Leclerc found himself optimistic for the next season. « It’s important to finish on a positive note, exclaimed the Scuderia driver. « The entire second part of the season has been really good. Since Zandvoort, we have understood the car a lot. I have found everything that suits my driving style, and we have seen that it has really helped extract the car’s potential. I believe we are heading in the right direction. »

Charles Leclerc finally finished 5th in the driver’s standings this season, gaining two positions in Abu Dhabi.