Leclerc says it is simple: Lewis did a great job, I did not

The Ferrari drivers remain locked in an incredibly close battle. Both have had their share of issues this season and just nine points currently separate them in the championship standings. Charles Leclerc and Lewis Hamilton were closely matched in Mexican qualifying too. It came down to fine margins, but the seven-time champion came out on top on this occasion.

Leclerc had been the slight favourite. He had been a little quicker for virtually the entire weekend. Lewis had also been hampered by a technical problem in second practice. When it mattered, however, it was the seven-time champion who ultimately did the slightly better job.

Leclerc himself made no attempt to hide that after qualifying. “I didn’t do a good job and Lewis did a great job. It’s simple as that,” the Monegasque driver said after qualifying.

“Unfortunately, it was very difficult to put the tyres into the right window again. I struggled with that. In Q3 I had a clean out-lap finally, but I anticipated quite badly what will happen with the car and just struggled,” he added.

At the post-race press conference, he said he “can only be angry with myself”. There is, however, a small reason for optimism ahead of Sunday’s race. His team-mate struggled in Q2 and had to use another fresh set of softs. Leclerc will start on the clean side of the grid and should also have a fresh set of soft tyres available.

On the other hand, there is also one major problem. According to many of the drivers, we should expect an uneventful race on Sunday. I think the pace is good. I think the car feels good and felt good since FP1. So I think on that we’ve got the race pace, but I doubt there will be any overtakes tomorrow,” said Leclerc.

“I’ve tried more in FP2, and it’s just very difficult because the overtake mode doesn’t do much. So, I think whatever is the standing after Turn 3, it’s going to be very difficult then to overtake. So, it’s a bit of a shame that I didn’t do the job eventually when it mattered,” Charles added.