Charles Leclerc had a strong start to the race, overtaking Pierre Gasly and his teammate Carlos Sainz into Turn 1. He then set his sights on leader George Russell, attempting to make a move on him. However, after a failed pass, Leclerc began to fall back, losing positions to the cars he had previously overtaken. His aggressive driving style on medium tyres early on forced him to pit as early as Lap 10. Switching to hard tyres for the remaining stints, Leclerc found better pace but could only manage to secure P4, finishing between Max Verstappen and Sainz, whom he passed in the closing laps.

Reflecting on the race, Leclerc admitted, “I was very excited at the start, starting from P2, but unfortunately, things went wrong quickly because I pushed the tyres too hard early on. On the two hard tyre sets, we were very strong, but the damage was done on the first stint.” Speaking to Sky Sports F1, Leclerc addressed his frustrated post-race radio messages, mostly about being overtaken by Sainz after his second stop.

“There’s always more context behind these frustrations,” Leclerc said. “I don’t think it’s necessary to go into the specifics of what was discussed. It’s frustrating, but it doesn’t change much for the team. On that first stint, when my tyres were completely gone, I didn’t fight and let Carlos through. We’ll address the rest internally.”

When asked if he felt Sainz had been given preferential treatment, Leclerc dismissed the idea: “No, it’s not about favoritism. It’s about sticking to what was communicated to us. I’ve probably said too much already, so I won’t go into further detail.”

Ferrari’s double points finish in P3 and P4 brought the team closer to McLaren in the constructors’ standings, cutting the gap to 24 points. Lando Norris and Oscar Piastri finished P6 and P7.

Commenting on the team’s performance, Leclerc added: “It’s good progress, though we expected more this weekend. We knew this track would suit us, but tyre warm-up was an issue as we anticipated. Mercedes were just very strong today—too strong for us.”