Charles Leclerc had a race to forget at the British Grand Prix on Sunday as the Formula One title competitor saw triumph bobbled away on strategy.
The title frontrunner after three races, Leclerc has seen his test wrecked by a line of unfortunate outcomes, some of them self-caused wounds like at Silverstone.
Driving with 12 laps to go, Leclerc completed a miserable fourth after a procedure call cost him the win.
The Monegasque remained out during a late security vehicle and afterward needed to guard against colleague and race champ Carlos Sainz and Red Bull’s Sergio Perez, who were brought in for new tires.
With Sainz taking off from the pack for a first vocation win, Leclerc was passed on to fight for second with Perez and Mercedes home favorite Lewis Hamilton.
“I don’t know yet. It was obviously very late (the call) and they made the decision to stay, said “stay out”, so I cannot come in obviously if we are aligned and that was it,” said Leclerc
After 10 of 22 races, Verstappen tops the standings on 181 points, 34 ahead of colleague Perez and 43 clear of Leclerc.
“The disappointment is real for me today. It’s been a rollercoaster of a race. The first lap I broke the front wing and I thought that was over and there was quite a lot of under-steer,” said Leclerc.
“The pace came back and we were very strong and then the win was feeling more-and-more possible. Then the safety car and that was it,” he added.
Leclerc has seen his title challenge blur with a line of Ferrari disappointments.
“It (team mistakes) is costing a lot of points…,” he said.
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