Leclerc and his teammate Carlos Sainz seemed to have an advantage over Max Verstappen on Sunday in terms of race pace. Using different strategies, Leclerc had to overtake the champion three times, to achieve his first victory in nine races (since just three months ago).
But while Carlos Sainz retired in pursuit of second with engine failure on lap 57 of 71, Leclerc also suffered a dramatic reliability scare in the closing laps.
The Monegasque driver reported problems with the throttle, which seemed to stick open in the corners. After a long back-and-forth with his Ferrari team, Leclerc held on to beat Verstappen by less than two seconds.
A hugely relieved-sounding Charles Leclerc said on team radio that he was “afraid” of missing out on another sure win after retiring while leading at the Spanish GP and Azerbaijan GP.
Afterwards, the #16 explained that his accelerator pedal would get stuck in the corners between 20 and 30%, which made the final laps “very difficult” to manage.
“It was a very good race, the pace was there at the beginning, and we had some good battles with Max,” Leclerc said.
“And the finish was incredibly difficult. I had a problem with the throttle, and it would get stuck at 20 or 30 percent throttle at low speed.”
“It was very difficult, but we managed to keep it until the end. And I’m very, very happy.”
Asked if his alarms went off after Sainz’s car was smoking, Leclerc admitted that Ferrari’s run of poor reliability was running through his mind.
“Yeah, weirdly it was around the same time, so of course, it was on my mind,” he admitted.
“I knew it wasn’t an engine problem because it was really the pedal that gave me a weird feeling. First when I let go and then at the end it didn’t go back to zero. But luckily I made it to the end of the race.”
Leclerc claimed his first victory since the Australian Grand Prix in April, a race after which a mix of reliability issues and questionable strategic decisions contributed to an eight-round winless run. All this, while his rival for the title, Verstappen, built a cool lead in the drivers’ standings.
Although he cut five points off Verstappen during the Austrian GP weekend, where Max won the sprint race, Leclerc admitted he desperately needed a third win of 2022.
“I definitely needed it,” he acknowledged. “I mean, the last five races have been incredibly difficult for me, but also for the team, obviously.”
“And to finally show that we have the pace in the car and that we can do it is incredible, so we have to push until the end.”
