Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc could only manage third place in front of the home crowd at Imola. It was an important podium for the Scuderia, but not the result the Monegasque had hoped for. He had high expectations for the latest Ferrari upgrades, but he was outperformed by his rivals from McLaren and Red Bull.
“At least it’s another podium,” sighed Charles Leclerc after the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix. “But I’m only happy when I win. We were very fast on the hard tyres at the start. I really wanted to put pressure on Lando (Norris), but then he suddenly went very fast. We lost a lot of time on the straight, so we’ll definitely look at that. We were fast enough on the other sections, so that’s encouraging for the rest of the season.”
Charles Leclerc used an upgrade on his SF-24 at Imola. A lot was expected of the new Ferrari, but P3 was not the result the Tifosi were hoping for. “It’s not the best circuit to test our upgrades,” Leclerc defended. “On an older track like this, everything revolves around qualifying, as soon as you start from P3, your race is in danger. But everything matched our expectations.”
Michael Schumacher
With his P3, Charles Leclerc is the first Ferrari driver since Michael Schumacher to make it to the podium in Imola – the German legend outperformed rival Fernando Alonso by winning in front of the home crowd. Leclerc is happy that he has been able to give the Italian fans something beautiful again. “A podium in Italy is always special,” he concluded. “Of course you want to be at the top, but I’m glad I was able to give this to the Tifosi.
