In Mexico City, Charles Leclerc started from pole position, but was involved in an incident on the first lap and finished third…
Question: Charles, congratulations on your fourth podium this year. Could more have been achieved without the incident at the start?
Charles Leclerc: The front wing was damaged in the first turn, I was told that we lost 10 or 15 points of downforce, but after that the race went well.
Question: Sergio Perez considers what happened in the first turn to be a racing incident, but what do you think?
Charles Leclerc: I think the same. I had nowhere to go. I tried to stay as far to the right as possible, as close to Max as possible, but there was no more room. Sergio probably didn’t know that I had Max on my right. At some point it became clear that a collision could not be avoided. I’m even surprised that I was able to finish after that.
I’m very happy to be on the podium. In qualifying the car was fast, I won pole, but on Sunday the speed was not enough to win. In working on next year’s car we will do everything to make it look better on Sunday.
Question: What are the expectations from Brazil?
Charles Leclerc: We are again waiting for a stage with a Saturday sprint. This season we have performed well in sprint races, I hope it will be the same next week.
Question: It seems that the Hard tires did not suit your car, after the restart the pace dropped…
Charles Leclerc: This once again confirms the weaknesses of our car – it is very sensitive to settings, and as soon as we leave the optimal range, we immediately lose speed. This is exactly what happened with Hard.
At first I thought that everything would work out, but the race was stopped with red flags, the tires cooled down, and after the restart they no longer worked. It’s a shame, because before this everything was very good, especially on Medium. We will figure it out, we need to understand what exactly went wrong and improve it in the future. But not in the short term.
Question: Is this your first podium in Mexico? What does it feel like? What’s the difference between Plan A, B or C in this race?
Charles Leclerc: I won’t talk about our plans, but yes – this is my first podium in Mexico City, which is always nice. It’s a pity that the fans booed me, but you can understand them – it’s a shame when your main character retires in the first corner. But like I said, there was nothing I could do.
Question: Can you confirm that you had your front wing replaced during the red flags? And did this change the feel of the car?
Charles Leclerc: Believe me, a car always drives better with a intact front wing than with a broken one. At that moment I did not know what else was damaged in the car.
When I saw that Perez’s rear wheel was touching my front wheel, I thought: that’s it, I’m done. But then I drove two or three turns and realized that everything was not so bad.
Yes, during the red flag suspension we were able to fix the front wing, but perhaps there was more to it than that.
2023-10-30 10:17:00
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