Leclerc Reflects: Pride in Podium, Pain in Defeat

Charles Leclerc celebrates a strong finish but laments Ferrari’s narrow miss in the Constructors’ Championship battle against McLaren.

Starting 19th on the grid for the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix, Charles Leclerc managed to secure a podium finish in the final round of the 2024 Formula 1 season, thanks to an impressive recovery drive and a brilliant opening lap that will likely be remembered for a long time. However, despite this feat, the Monegasque driver was mostly disappointed to see Ferrari fall short against McLaren F1 in the battle for the Constructors’ Championship.

“I’m, of course, very happy with the race. But the disappointment is much greater. You don’t win or lose a championship only in the final race. It’s throughout the season, after every race. And McLaren did better than us. I congratulate them. But it’s obviously painful when you reach the final race knowing there’s an opportunity to seize. The weekend was already very tough, starting with Friday’s penalty. It was never easy. But after such a great opening lap, hopes were high. And yes, we missed out on our dream of winning the Constructors’ title. It hurts.”

Leclerc was already eighth by the end of the first lap and admitted he couldn’t recall a better start to a race in his Formula 1 career.

“I don’t know. Maybe in Formula 2, I had a few good first laps. But in F1, I think this is certainly the best opening lap I’ve ever done.”

In addition to his ten-place grid penalty, Leclerc’s qualifying session ended in Q2 after his lap was deleted for exceeding track limits. Could the outcome have been different if he’d started higher on the grid?

“On Saturday, I thought fourth was probably the best we could do, which would have meant starting 14th or 15th on the grid. Then, you never know what might happen starting from 15th—would we have gained 11 positions as well? I don’t think you can say that. So overall, I think my opening lap recovered everything we had lost since the start of the weekend. I have no regrets.”

Leclerc is “proud” of Ferrari’s operational progress

McLaren F1 secured the Constructors’ Championship after demonstrating the best performance level throughout the season, but Leclerc remains proud of Ferrari’s campaign.

“I’m very happy because I think the first part of the season wasn’t easy. We definitely didn’t have the fastest car. In fact, we struggled to be competitive. In the second part of the season, we did an incredible job, especially in improving the car’s pace. We gained a lot of speed. We were much closer to the guys ahead, and in fact, at some races, we probably had the fastest car, thanks to the team in Maranello, thanks to Carlos, thanks to me, and to the team at the track who did such a great job with the new upgrades.”

“But I think the standout point this season was execution. Fighting for the Constructors’ title until the very last race of the year, when you look at the performance we had in the first part of the year, shows where we excelled. I’m very proud of that.”

While the Monegasque driver is pleased with his team’s progress, he doesn’t see it as a guarantee that they’ll fight for the title again in 2025.

“We’ve had two seasons where we fought for the championship. Obviously, one of them didn’t last long enough, in 2022. And I think we’ve grown a lot. I’ve grown a lot as a driver, and I think we’ve also grown a lot as a team because, after such a long period, most of the team members have changed. For many, it was the first time they were fighting again at the top with Ferrari. So, I think it’s an important process. But yes, I believe that over the past four years, we’ve been progressing step by step in the right direction. With Carlos, we’ve pushed the team in a very good direction, and I think we’re in a strong position today.”

“Obviously, we didn’t achieve the ultimate goal this year. But I don’t really believe that our current momentum is necessarily a good sign for next year. There have been quite a few examples on our side where we ended a season strongly and then struggled at the start of the following year. So, we really need to carry this momentum forward. We’ve had several examples where we identified during the winter break what went wrong, what we hadn’t done properly, and we paid the price at the beginning of the next season. That’s probably the most valuable experience to ensure we start next year in the best possible way.”