Charles Leclerc admits there is a sense of relief after taking his first Formula 1 win in Belgium.
The Monegasque suffered two near-misses earlier in the year at Bahrain and Austria, before finally getting the job done by holding off a charging Lewis Hamilton at Spa-Francorchamps.
Achieving that feat was seen as the next key step in an impressive first year at Ferrari, but Leclerc admits he hasn’t had much time to let it sink in.
“I am very happy this first win is done,” the 21-year-old said in Italy on Thursday. “It’s always difficult to do this first step but once you do it, it takes quite a bit of weight out of your shoulders.
“I am very proud, but not much time to think about it. We are already here only four days later in Italy and we need to focus fully on the job we have to do here.”
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His victory came on a very difficult weekend for Leclerc, following the death of friend Anthoine Hubert in an F2 crash a day earlier.
And afterwards, it was revealed that Leclerc had barely spoken to the team during the race.
“To be honest, I’ve got no idea why I didn’t speak,” he admitted. “The engineers thought there was something wrong on the radio actually because I was not speaking.
“I had nothing to say, they were giving me the information I needed and I just focused on the job behind the wheel. That’s it.”
Now that the hurdle of his first Grand Prix win is cleared, Lewis Hamilton suggested Leclerc may not have to wait long for number two.
“I don’t think it gets more complicated when you come to a race like this, two back-to-backs, and come off a win,” he explained.
“It’s usually easier with the flow to ride that wave into the next one and knock out two wins in a row, particularly when you’ve got two tracks that are quite similar in terms of requirements of performance of the car.
“This could be his second win this weekend. I will do everything I can to stop that.”