Charles Leclerc says his return to victory at the Austrian Grand Prix was “definitely needed” after recent setbacks.
The Monegasque dominated Sunday’s race at the Red Bull Ring, passing Max Verstappen three times as he proved simply too strong for the reigning world champion.
Leclerc’s win marked his first since Melbourne back in April, and the first time he has even stood on the podium since Miami.
So to show the kind of pace he had in the early races was definitely a welcome relief for the Ferrari driver.
“I definitely needed that one,” the declared. “The last five races have been incredibly difficult for myself, but also for the team obviously.
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“To finally show that we’ve got the pace in the car and that we can do it is incredible. It was a really good race, the pace was there at the beginning, and we had some good fights with Max.”
Ferrari’s reliability frailties were still on show however, as teammate Carlos Sainz had a fiery retirement due to an engine failure.
And Leclerc too admitted he was “scared” in the closing laps as he coped with a problem.
“At the end, it was incredibly difficult,” he explained. “I had this problem with the throttle, and it would get stuck at 20 or 30 per cent throttle in the low speed.
“Weirdly it was more or less at the same time [as Sainz had his failure], so of course, I had it in my mind.
“I knew it was not a problem with the engine because it was really the pedal that was feeling weird. First at pick up and then at the end it would not come back to zero, but luckily it went until the end of the race.
“It was very tricky, but we managed to make it stick until the end – and I’m so, so happy.”
Nothing can beat that winning feeling ?
Well done @Charles_Leclerc! ❤️?#essereFerrari ? #AustrianGP pic.twitter.com/PoUpJex22e
— Scuderia Ferrari (@ScuderiaFerrari) July 10, 2022
After Sergio Perez retired following contact with George Russell on the opening lap, it means Leclerc moves back up to second in the Drivers’ Championship at the halfway point.
And though he still has a 38-point deficit to leader Verstappen, Charles’ message was clear about his title hopes.
“We need to push until the end!” he declared.
After the race, the top three drivers were given a 10,000 Euros suspended fine for breaching parc ferme regulations.