Leclerc: Not fighting more with Piastri was a mistake

Leclerc started the 2024 Azerbaijan GP from pole for the fourth time in a row, and for the fourth time in a row, he failed to convert pole into a win as Piastri managed to outrace him in the McLaren to take his second Formula 1 career win.

While Leclerc managed to keep Piastri at bay at the start and during the first stint on Medium tyres, the balance tipped towards Piastri after the first round of pit stops both drivers switching to Hards.

Ferrari boss Fred Vasseur pointed out after the race that Leclerc had bad in and out laps, which meant the gap to Piastri was less after the stops, which helped the latter chase the Monegasque and overtake him on Lap 20, keeping his lead till the chequered flag.

However, Leclerc pointed out two reasons why Ferrari lost the race in Baku while speaking to the media in Baku, including GrandPrix247.

"Today we have lost the race on two misjudgments," he claimed. "Not fighting more with Oscar [Piastri] was a mistake.

"We also expected the undercut to be very difficult. The warm-up of the Hard [tyre] was very difficult, apparently. We have got to look at how the gap went from 6 seconds to 1.5 seconds.

"It is a lot of lap time lost. I don’t know what [happened]. It needs to be analyzed. We need to understand if McLaren had a much better warm-up on Hards or what happened," he explained.

Leclerc also added that he struggled with the Hard tyres; he said: "[On] the Medium tyres we were competitive but when we changed for Hard tyres, it was more difficult.

"Towards the end, I thought I would get the car in the wall," he added, pointing out how much he was struggling with his tyres.

Leclerc and Piastri put up a great racing show from the moment the latter took the lead of the grand prix, fighting tooth and nail for the win but conceded McLaren and their young Australian driver were the better combo on the day.

Towards the end, the Ferrari driver was under pressure from Red Bull's Sergio Perez and also teammate Carlos Sainz in the sister car, who overtook the Mexican after a failed overtake attempt from the latter on the #16 Ferrari.

As Perez fought to retake his position from Sainz, the pair crashed spectacularly on the penultimate lap which meant the race ended under the virtual safety car.

Leclerc reflected: "McLaren and Oscar have done an exceptional job and done better than us. A huge shame for Carlos [Sainz] on the last laps, hopefully everyone is OK and obviously not a great day for the team.

"I think maybe McLaren had less downforce, and in the straights they were very quick," he reckoned. "I couldn't get as close as I wanted.

"Eventually we lost the race when I didn't defend as well as I could have at the end of the straight. Sometimes you make mistakes, and I'll learn from it," Leclerc reiterated in conclusion.