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

Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc feels he could have done more to maintain the lead during the Azerbaijan Grand Prix following a battle with Oscar Piastri that ultimately went the McLaren driver’s way.

Leclerc controlled the early stages of the race from pole position but was overhauled by Piastri into Turn 1 just after their sole pit stops, with the Monegasque then hounding the Australian – and coming close to reclaiming P1 – across some 30 laps.

Given that colossal effort, Leclerc’s tyres gave up in the closing stages and led to him dropping from the rear of Piastri’s car to the clutches of Red Bull’s Sergio Perez and Ferrari team mate Carlos Sainz, prompting a separate fight.

2024 Azerbaijan Grand Prix: Piastri takes the lead after mega move on Leclerc

While he managed to come home in P2, with Perez and Sainz going wheel-to-wheel at the start of the penultimate lap and dramatically crashing out, Leclerc was left to wonder what might have been on another day.

Asked to reflect on the race, and when he realised he would not get the win, Leclerc replied: “I think as soon as we put the hard tyres on. The mediums were very competitive and the car felt good.

“Unfortunately, we didn’t do any high fuel running on my side in FP1/FP2 and we went for a set-up direction that maybe in the race was a bit more difficult to manage. Especially on the hard tyres, I was really struggling to just keep those rear tyres.

“Towards the end I really thought that… in one corner or two I thought that I would put it in the wall. It was very close, but [we ended up] second today.”

2024 Azerbaijan Grand Prix: Huge drama in Baku as Perez and Sainz crash on the penultimate lap

He continued: “I think maybe McLaren had a little bit less downforce, so in the straights they were very quick and in the corners we were a bit quicker.

“I thought that when Oscar overtook me it was just a matter of staying calm, trying to keep those tyres and overtake him later on, but actually it was a lot more difficult than that. In the straights I couldn’t get as close as I wanted.

HIGHLIGHTS: Relive the action from Baku as Piastri takes exhilarating victory in dramatic fight for the win

“To be honest, we lost the race when I didn’t quite defend as well as I should have at the end of the straight, but it’s the way it is. Sometimes you do mistakes, and I’ll learn from it.”

Leclerc added that Piastri and McLaren did “an exceptional job” and “have been better than us” when it counted, while also commenting that it was a “huge shame” for Ferrari to lose points through Sainz’s retirement.