Leclerc: Styrian GP comeback “one of my best performances” in F1

Leclerc was forced to pit for a new front wing on the opening lap following contact with AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly on the exit of Turn 3.

The Monegasque recovered from as low as 18th to finish seventh, showing impressive race pace and overtaking prowess, which earned him the driver of the day accolade.

Aside from his lap one tangle with Gasly, Leclerc hailed his race-day performance at the Red Bull Ring.

“No, if we look at the first lap it’s been an incredible race for us and we’ve been incredibly quick but obviously there’s this first lap which clearly stopped us by doing something much much better today,” Leclerc told Sky Sports F1.

“It was a big opportunity, the pace was incredible. It is probably one of my best performances in F1 today, apart from the lap one. It’s life.”

Reflecting on the incident with Gasly, Leclerc wanted to review the incident before giving his true opinion but initially felt both drivers were responsible for it.

“To be honest I need to rewatch the images from outside," Leclerc explained. “I have no idea whether Pierre went a little bit to the left and I went a little bit to the right at the same time, I guess it’s a bit of both and at the end we touched."

With another race taking place at the Red Bull Ring next weekend as it hosts the Austrian Grand Prix, Leclerc is excited to make the most of Ferrari’s impressive race pace - something that it has lacked in recent rounds.

“Yeah I am really looking forward to next weekend,'' Leclerc added. “Again, today was really really special. It’s been a long time but we didn’t have this type of race pace."

Teammate Carlos Sainz finished sixth, allowing Ferrari to close the gap to McLaren to 12 points in the constructors’ championship.