Charles Leclerc details gruelling strategy to keep Verstappen at bay in Belgian GP

Charles Leclerc has shared his thoughts on his challenging but rewarding outing at the Belgian Grand Prix. The 27-year-old detailed the difficulty of keeping Max Verstappen at bay throughout the race.

The Monegasque driver, who had endured a torrid outing last time out in the wet conditions at the British Grand Prix, was quick to put the Silverstone event behind him as he fended off attacks from the four-time world champion to secure a podium finish.

Sharing his thoughts following the completion of the race, the Scuderia Ferrari driver said in the post-race conference:

"Max was behind the whole race within two seconds, so it's never easy. I knew the first lap of the race would be the trickiest for us because we maybe didn't have the downforce that McLaren or Max had. Luckily it dried up pretty quickly, then the pace was good. But Max was behind the whole race, so I'm pretty happy we managed to keep third place."

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Charles Leclerc reflects on his radio message with his engineer

Charles Leclerc also touched on his radio message with his engineer Bryan Bozzi. The eight-time Grand Prix winner had a tense moment where he bluntly requested to be left alone as he tried to fend off Verstappen.

Reflecting on the incident, he stated:

"The pressure is high, especially in those conditions. At one point I told [my engineer] Bryan to leave me alone! Obviously, he was trying to give me the most information—sometimes I needed it, sometimes I didn't."