The final laps of the Austrian Grand Prix were an ordeal for Charles Leclerc and, above all, for his team, Ferrari, who lived with tension from the garage as his accelerator pedal got stuck without being able to do anything. The Monegasque driver managed to take his F1-75 to the finish line in first position, withstanding the challenges of Max Verstappen, who would never have been able to claim victory if it were not for the setback suffered by those from Maranello, since the degradation of his tires left him too far behind.
Once the man from Monaco crossed the finish line, a feeling of relief was unleashed in the Italian box, since several months had passed since Leclerc’s last triumph in the Grand Circus, and without counting on the appointment in Silverstone where they climbed to higher with Carlos Sainz, Red Bull had chained a streak of six consecutive successes.
One of those who could breathe easy when the 71 laps passed and the Prancing Horse returned to first place was Jock Clear , the team’s engineer since 2015 and very close to Charles Leclerc, whom he helped during his time at the young driver academy .
“It all started with minor problems with the accelerator pedal, but we were hopeful that the situation would turn out the way we wanted,” said the Briton. “Of course, we had two possibilities, either it was over or it was completely broken.”
“Fortunately, this time it went well, as planned, but we were very nervous. The positive point was that the car had a good pace,” admitted Clear shortly after celebrating victory at the Red Bull Ring.
“Charles [Leclerc] tried to drive as carefully as possible in the last few laps,” said the Ferrari insider. “It’s comparable to a situation where you deliberately try to turn without taking your foot off the throttle completely.”
The Monegasque was enjoying several seconds of advantage at the time his pedal got stuck, but it was enough to overtake Max Verstappen, who was on the verge of losing second position, had it not been for the fire in the Sainz engine.
“Charles could not brake as he wanted, because he had to do it before. Because of Max Verstappen, who had the same tires as us, we could not slow down, but he did a great job,” he explained about his driver’s performance. “Charles was worried about the problem, I can imagine what was going through his head.”
The engineer, who has extensive experience in Formula 1, revealed that the Pirelli compounds were what allowed the Italians to win: “After the sprint race, we realized that our car was faster than expected. it looked like, but we couldn’t show it like we wanted.
“One of the reasons was that the cars had less fuel, and that reduces the stress on the tyres, but in the main round, with a full tank, the advantage was obvious, that was what made the difference between Saturday and Sunday,” Jock Clear said.
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