Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc made contact with the rear of Lewis Hamilton’s SF-25 F1 car during the opening lap of the Chinese Grand Prix, leading to front wing damage. While he described the incident as a “shame,” Leclerc expressed satisfaction with the car’s overall pace.
The damage to the Ferrari was limited to the wing’s endplate coming off. Despite the loss of 30 points of downforce, Leclerc decided to continue the race with the broken wing, considering his race pace was faster today than Hamilton’s, a stark contrast to Saturday’s sprint race where the seven-time world champion secured victory.
Speaking to the media after the race at the Shanghai International Circuit and recalling the contact with his teammate at Turn 3, the Monegasque driver said:
“Yeah, there’s a little bit of frustration because honestly, I think it was very positive on one side because the pace was really good. On the other hand, it’s a bit of a shame because we couldn’t use the full potential of it.
“Obviously we had a big, big damage on the front wing which was very unfortunate that it happened with Lewis. I don’t feel like any of the two have done anything wrong. I mean, I was on the inside to try and prepare turn 3.
“Lewis was around the outside. I thought he was staying there, but he had all the right to come back, but I did not expect him to come back and then I was like, oh, and well, that’s it.
“A bit of a shame that obviously cost us some lap time later on, but the pace was good.”
When asked how much performance was sacrificed due to the damage to the front wing, Leclerc said:
“The balance wasn’t too bad at the end, but there were still 30 points of downforce less, which is a lot of performance. So considering that, I felt like we had a really good race pace.
“What we are lacking at the moment is the qualifying pace in order to qualify forward.”
Considering Leclerc had the faster car, Hamilton was asked to let him pass mid-race, but there was some hesitancy on his part. However, despite passing his teammate, Leclerc struggled to match the performance of Mercedes’ George Russell. Describing it as a tricky situation for the team, Leclerc said:
“I think it’s very tricky for the team, and I also put myself in the shoes of Lewis. I mean, everybody knew I had a front wing damage, and I think the pace that we will see, you always put a question mark how much the DRS is doing.
“Will I have the same pace when I go in front with a broken front wing that honestly, the damage was quite big.
“I understand that there might be a bit more hesitation than in a completely normal situation.”
Leclerc’s car being faster than Hamilton’s despite front wing damage will certainly be part of Ferrari’s homework for tonight, as the answers will be crucial for the upcoming Japanese Grand Prix in two weeks.
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