Photo: Race Pictures

Golden opportunity missed? Leclerc 'could have fought for the win'

10:51, 10 Nov

Updated: 10:57, 10 Nov

2 Comments

byKada Sarkozi

Frederic Vasseur believes Charles Leclerc could have fought for victory at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.

"He was in a position where he could have fought for P1 or at least the podium."

- Frederic Vasseur

The weekend in Brazil was another to forget for Ferrari, as the Italian team suffered a double DNF.

On the first lap, Lewis Hamilton made contact with Franco Colapinto, which damaged his front wing and floor. After serving his penalty, the Briton retired from the race.

Then, following the Safety Car restart, Leclerc was then involved in an incident after a three-way battle with Oscar Piastri and Kimi Antonelli.

After the session, the team boss explained that Leclerc was clearly not at fault for the crash.

He said: "It’s a tough weekend, I don't know, at least tough Sunday. I had the feeling that with Charles we were in a good place, that he had a good start, a good restart, that he took margin on the kerb and we are paying the full price of the crash between Antonelli and Piastri.

"I don't care about who is at fault between Piastri and Antonelli, but for sure it was not Charles."

The incident that led to Leclerc's DNF in Brazil - Photo: Race Pictures

He later added: "He was in a position where he could have fought for P1 or at least the podium."

As a result, Ferrari is now fourth in the constructors' standings, 36 points behind Mercedes and four points behind Red Bull Racing.

The team boss continued: "It's tough because in this fight, you can't give up points. When you are giving up points, you are giving points also to the others. It's the double penalty and in our case, it's very harsh."

Poll

What positives can Ferrari take from the Brazil GP?

The Frenchman underlined that he would have preferred to score points over looking for positives.

He explained: "When you are at the end of the championship is difficult to take positive when you have [a] double DNF.

"But I would say that if I have to take a positive part of the weekend is the pace in qualifying, the recovery, that even the start, the restart, we are fighting, looking at the front, not looking at the guy who is behind us, trying to attack and the positive attitude.

"For sure it's good. But it's when you are at this point of the championship, you are more focused on points than on potential."

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