Charles Leclerc took the positives from his podium finish at the Canadian Grand Prix.
The Monegasque had been keeping Sebastian Vettel and Lewis Hamilton within sight during the first stint but would fall over 10 seconds behind the leading pair after Ferrari delayed his pit-stop.
Even so, amid the controversy ahead, he would close back in on the top two in the closing laps and almost stole second from his teammate as he finished just outside the five-second window.
“I’m pretty happy about my own performance today,” he said post-race. “The race pace was really strong, which is a good sign for the future.
“We have all worked extremely hard to be there. I don’t know what happened with Seb but the team deserved the victory today.
“It’s a shame but we’ll come back stronger, keep pushing and hopefully the victory will come soon.”
On the Vettel incident with Hamilton, Leclerc admits he wasn’t told by the team of what had taken place.
“I was not aware at all, no, I pushed but I didn’t know what was going on in front,” he explained.
“I didn’t know Seb had a penalty, I was pushing to be there if there was an opportunity but I was not aware of the five-second penalty, I was doing my own race.”
