Charles Leclerc admits he didn’t defend ‘as well as I should have’ during P1 fight with Oscar Piastri in Baku

Whereas he managed to come back residence in P2, with Perez and Sainz going wheel-to-wheel initially of the penultimate lap and dramatically crashing out, Leclerc was left to surprise what might need been on one other day.

Requested to mirror on the race, and when he realised he wouldn’t get the win, Leclerc replied: “I feel as quickly as we put the laborious tyres on. The mediums have been very aggressive and the automotive felt good.

READ MORE: Piastri relieved after ‘hanging on for pricey life’ to beat Leclerc and declare Baku victory

“Sadly, we didn’t do any excessive gas operating on my facet in FP1/FP2 and we went for a set-up course that possibly within the race was a bit tougher to handle. Particularly on the laborious tyres, I used to be actually struggling to simply hold these rear tyres.

“In the direction of the tip I actually thought that… in a single nook or two I assumed that I might put it within the wall. It was very shut, however [we ended up] second at this time.”