Ferrari sees success with hybrid system: 'Leclerc could follow Verstappen'

Sainz was lucky with the rain, because if it had been dry, the Spaniard would probably have finished outside the top three. Leclerc drove another lap when it started to rain because of Sainz's pit stop and this turned out to be fatal for him, the same way as Lando Norris.

Binotto happy with update

Leclerc was driving this weekend with a new update to the hybrid system, which meant he had to start from the back of the grid. The Monegasque wasn't expecting much from the update, but team principal Mattia Binotto is satisfied, despite his bad race. According to him the update was a success. "It gave us some lap time, worked reliably and delivered what we expected from it", Binotto told Auto, Motor und Sport. Ferrari, according to AMuS, also saw that Leclerc was able to follow Max Verstappen on the long straights. The Dutchman also started from the back of the grid due to an engine change.

However, Binotto also has points of criticism for the race in Sochi. "We did not work as we should in some other areas. For example with the tyre management, the pit stops and the timing of Charles' tyre change at the end." In both of Leclerc's pit stops, his left rear was stuck and he lost a total of 3.1 seconds to his teammate in the pit lane.