Charles Leclerc admits ‘It’s up to me to up my game’ after disastrous F1 Barcelona GP
Originally published by Motorsportweek
Charles Leclerc has admitted he needs to improve following his disappointing performance and retirement at the Formula 1 Barcelona-Catalunya Grand Prix.
Leclerc’s race in Barcelona was in stark contrast to his teammate’s, lacking pace in Barcelona while Lewis Hamilton dominated to win by almost 20 seconds.
His race was compounded in the closing stages as he retired with a car issue, after running in sixth place following an attacking race.
After the race, Leclerc revealed the details behind his shock late retirement.
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“I had a BBW fail, and I had no power steering anymore, so Turn 2, I was in the corner and suddenly there was no power steering. Then that was the end of my race,” he said.
Charles Leclerc targets self-improvement
Leclerc then delivered an honest assessment of his race, which was affected by a Q3 crash that left him starting tenth.
The Monegasque also acknowledged he needs to improve his own performances following crashes in multiple weekends.
“I don’t want to take any credit for today’s race. I don’t think I had a role in it at all. I think Lewis and the team has done the job and eventually got the win all by themselves.
“Surely, I could have stayed ahead of Lewis for two or three corners, but that would have been very stupid from me anyway. And Lewis won with an incredible margin, 20 seconds. He’s been incredible in the last three weekends, he’s been really on it, and he deserves all of it.
“Now it’s up to me to up my game, to find this confidence with this car to put everything together.
“Hopefully, with clean weekends; it is true also that the last four weekends haven’t been very clean technically for me. We have had a lot of issues, so I’m just looking forward to having clean races, taking the rhythm again, and hopefully, fighting at the front as well.”
Leclerc’s defeat to Hamilton will hurt the Monegasque, with Austria providing an opportunity for a fightback.