Brawn applauds Leclerc’s ‘hugely impressive’ Silverstone podium
Ross Brawn has singled out Charles Leclerc’s accomplished drive to third position in the British Grand Prix at Silverstone, an unexpected fillip for a Ferrari team struggling for consistent form at this stage in the season.
The Scuderia’s relative struggles with the SF1000 have been well documented having slipped away from the lead fight into what has become a mid-field battle for the Prancing Horse instead.
Nonetheless, Leclerc gave the team a welcome boost at Silverstone with what looked to be a solid run to fourth position, only to be promoted into the top three when Valtteri Bottas suffered a puncture ahead of him in the closing stages.
His second podium of the season, Leclerc’s efforts haven’t gone unnoticed with Brawn – who served as technical director at Ferrari during its dominant era with Michael Schumacher – impressed to see the Monegasque extracting the maximum from an otherwise flawed package.
“Charles’ podium was fortuitous, following Valtteri’s tyre problem, but considering the difficulties they are having with the car, his performance was hugely impressive," Brawn said in his post-race blog on F1.com
“He continues to crunch out big results that are beyond what the car is really capable of. He is leaving us all waiting with bated breath for when they get the car sorted out. He’s driving quite exceptionally.
Leclerc’s fortunes are in stark contrast to those of team-mate Sebastian Vettel, whose rotten 2020 F1 season hit a new low as he laboured to tenth position, well off the pace.
“Sebastian had a horrible weekend, and you get those. Clearly, Charles’s result was a bonus and Ferrari clearly need to improve the car – and quickly. But there are a lot of good and experienced people at Ferrari and I’m optimistic.”
