Leclerc keen to learn from last lap Turkish F1 GP error

Charles Leclerc admits he was "too optimistic" on the final lap of the Turkish Grand Prix after a mistake cost him his third F1 podium finish of the season.

Leclerc overtook Sergio Perez for second place on the final lap in Turkey into Turn 11 but then ran wide at the following corner.

This error handed Perez second and allowed Ferrari teammate Sebastian Vettel into third place.

Reflecting on his mistake, Leclerc vowed to learn from it.

“While looking back at it there were two things,” Leclerc said. “One, that I was too optimistic and I missed my braking point, not by much but enough to miss the corner and then also I think the car was very, very dirty so I was trying to check in the mirrors but I couldn’t see anything behind.

“The end result that I should have taken a bit more margin and I was ahead of Sergio at the braking point and that’s it. It happens, I will learn from it and hopefully, it won’t happen again.”

Ferrari enjoyed its largest points haul of the season in Turkey and now trails Racing Point by 24 points in the constructors’ championship.

Leclerc says Ferrari needs “three perfect weekends” to have a realistic chance of finishing third in the championship.

“Well, that’s definitely the target but realistically it’s going to be very very difficult,” Leclerc added. “We need to have three perfect weekends so we need to focus on ourselves and see whether we can make it or not but I believe it will obviously depend on how good the work we do and how consistent they will be in the next three weekends.”