Charles Leclerc: Second pit stop warfare no mistake

“I would have had to finish the race otherwise on the medium, but they were already five or six laps older than the soft tires [von Mercedes], which were new.” Leclerc stopped in lap 09 for the first time, switching from Relaxed to Medium.

Mercedes benefited from the virtual security vehicle triggered by Sebastian Vettel's failure. Both drivers saved about ten seconds compared to a regular stop due to the favorable stop under VSC conditions. This put Lewis Hamilton back on track ahead of Leclerc

Valtteri Bottas came in third behind Leclerc. When the security vehicle share was announced after the accident by George Russell, the Ferrari driver drove once more to the Field and switched to used soft tires for the last 23 Rounds. He had to rank in third place behind Bottas.

Behind the security vehicle, he had the same good starting position for the restart as the silver arrows, believes the Monegasque. “Everyone has difficulty with the tire temperatures behind the security vehicle, which is a disadvantage when you drive on the medium, and when it's done, it's even more.”

Ferrari responded because: “We did not want to risk to lose more than one space. ” Despite being fresher, he still could not regain second place from Bottas on the track. “I think it warfare the right decision at that time in the race,” Leclerc does not want to criticize Ferrari's strategy.

Bottas in return warfare pleased about the inherited second rank. “Warfare was my priority, to keep Charles behind me, I tried to push at the restart, and at the same time I wanted to leave a gap to Lewis, because if you drive so close behind, then you start to slip and this will destroy you Tires.” This is exactly what made Leclerc fatal in the hunt of the Finn.