Charles Leclerc, 7th in the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix: “It’s a shame, because the potential was there”

The Monegasque driver finished seventh in an eventful Grand Prix that featured another head-to-head between Lewis Hamilton (Mercedes) and Max Verstappen (Red Bull), with victory going to the Briton. 

Starting from fourth on the grid, Charles Leclerc (Ferrari) was entitled to have a few regrets at the end of the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix, where he finished in seventh place, just ahead of his team-mate Carlos Sainz (Ferrari).  “I thought the safety car was going to be good for us, then there was the red flag, which caused us to lose a lot of positions,” he explained at the end of the race. “And after the restart, with the hard tyres, we struggled massively… ” 

With one race to go, Leclerc is fifth in the world championship

In a Grand Prix that saw two red flags for impressive spin-offs, the drivers experienced several race restarts, with three starts in total. Which did not favour the Monegasque driver. “I lost positions each time with the hard tyres, afterwards I tried to make up what we lost. But it was not enough, obviously.”

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Crossing the line in 7th place, Charles Leclerc missed out on another top 5 finish. “It’s a shame because the potential was really strong,” he said. “You can see it in the early part of the race”. His seventh place nevertheless means Leclerc takes fifth place in the world championship rankings (158 points), with one leg to go.

The Scuderia Ferrari (307.5 points), barring a major upset, is sure to finish in third place in the constructors’ world championship (McLaren, in fourth, has 269 points). Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen have the same number of points (369.5 points) before the last Grand Prix of the season, which will take place in Abu Dhabi next weekend.