Leclerc: 'End is as difficult as the beginning'

Charles Leclerc enters the United States Grand Prix with high hopes of a strong final stage. Speaking to The Race However, he acknowledges that it will be a tough task, especially given Ferrari's s strategic mistakes this season.

With four races to go, Leclerc is embroiled in a heated battle for second place. He and Sergio Perez are currently separated by just one point. But for the first half of the season, Leclerc had his sights set on the title, not second place. Thanks to a strong start to the season - and helped by technical problems at Red Bull - Leclerc even led the championship for a while. But Max Verstappen soon managed to claim that spot and meanwhile convert it into his second world title.

Leclerc's points loss can be attributed to many factors: an incredibly strong performance by Red Bull and Verstappen, a few mistakes by the Monegasque, and occasional dumb luck. But surely it is hard to deny that Ferrari's pit wall is also to blame. Leclerc also acknowledges this.

"Our main goal is to become a better team on Sunday. That means everything has to be better: good calls, good strategy, good communication, good tyre management. We made some wrong strategy choices, and that started to add up, race after race after race."

The final stage will be tricky

Still, Leclerc does see progress in his team. In the final phase of the season, Ferrari will still have to make considerable strides to grab the best possible result, and Leclerc, therefore, does not want to be complacent now that the title is already given away. "I believe that the last bit is as hard as the bit we’ve done now. The team has done a great job and made a good step forward in terms of performance. But we have to keep working."