Pole-sitter Leclerc ‘cannot be too happy’ with Belgian Grand Prix outing despite finishing with a podium

Charles Leclerc has insisted he "cannot be too happy" with his Belgian Grand Prix outing despite being elevated to the podium following George Russell's post-race disqualification.

For the second year in a row the Ferrari man had inherited pole position for the race in Spa from a penalised Max Verstappen, and for the second year in a row he lost the lead early on. This time around, Lewis Hamilton’s Mercedes had too much pace and the Britain was able to slipstream past the Ferrari on the second lap.

Leclerc also lost out to Oscar Piastri later on, but did well to hold Verstappen off in the closing stages to initially finish fourth – only to inherit P3 thanks to Russell’s disqualification.

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It’s his first top-three finish since he won in Monaco all the way back in May, but the Monegasque driver had mixed feelings after a tough afternoon.

"I cannot be too happy with today’s race, as we had expected to be on the same level as Mercedes," he said. "On the positive side we managed to keep the two Red Bulls and one McLaren behind us.

“In terms of tyres and strategy, we had expected to see a lot more graining on the hard, but they worked well, while we struggled more with the medium.

"I thought we were stopping too early for the first stop, but with hindsight the hard was a really good tyre and, as we saw with [Russell], the one-stop might have worked better, but in the end we did a good job to stay in front of Max [Verstappen].”

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Leclerc was speaking when he initially believed he had finished fourth, before being upgraded to that podium. Russell’s disqualification also moved Carlos Sainz up a position, with the Spaniard – who has now been confirmed to be joining Williams for 2025 – claiming sixth in the end.

He was left wondering what might have been even more than Leclerc, having been the only car to have started on the hard compound tyre. Had he extended that opening stint, perhaps he too could have one-stopped – something he was left to ponder after a race where, like his team mate, he led for a handful of laps.

"I feel like we had a strong start, with the hard tyre we did our best to stay out there and maximise the tyre which was very strong today," he said. "Good pace overall, but for some reason it feels like we didn’t maximise anything today, even if we took some risks at the start.

“I feel we should have tried the one-stop with hindsight given how Russell was on the one-stop.

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“It's been a challenging first half of the season for many different reasons, but I'm sure that after the summer break, we will come back stronger.”

Ferrari remain in third in the constructors', 21 points behind McLaren.