‘I couldn’t do much more’ – Leclerc rues ‘not easy day’ after taking P4 at Monza

Charles Leclerc admitted that he “couldn’t do much more” en route to a P4 finish at the Italian Grand Prix, with the Ferrari driver initially battling Oscar Piastri at the start before ultimately crossing the line in fourth.

As the race got underway at Monza, Leclerc made a strong launch off the line from fourth to scrap with Piastri, sparking cheers from the watching Tifosi as he moved up to third. However, the fans’ joy was short-lived as the McLaren then retook the position a few moments later.

From then on Leclerc looked to be struggling to match the pace of the cars ahead and, while he looked quicker again as the race wore on, the Monegasque remained in P4 at the finish line.

“It’s not been an easy day,” said Leclerc after the race. “In the first few laps I tried to fight with Piastri – unfortunately very quickly I overheated all my tyres, and I paid the price for the 10 laps after.

“Then I recovered and then the pace came back to me, but it was very difficult to manage that and to try and gain a position, especially when you don’t have the same pace as the guys in front, so I couldn’t do much more.”

Ferrari had started the weekend by claiming a 1-2 in Friday’s opening practice hour, while Leclerc remained in the top three throughout the other sessions before taking fourth in Saturday’s Qualifying.

In terms of where the pace displayed during the weekend at Monza leaves the team as they head into the next races on the calendar, Leclerc conceded: “I don’t think there was much more we could have done today and this weekend overall I think.

“Yesterday we did a good job with my lap in Q3. I think in the race we did our maximum that we could today, but the Red Bull and the McLaren were just too strong.”