Charles LeClerc Opens Up About Battle with Alonso

Sauber rookie Charles Leclerc has said that he has learned twice as much from Fernando Alonso in the Spanish Grand Prix compared to the earlier races. This was evidenced by his massive scrap with the two-time Formula 1 world champion.

Leclerc squeezed ahead of Alonso on the opening lap when the latter was delayed by Carlos Sainz Jr. Romain Grosjean’s rotating Haas at Turn 3 further helped his cause.

He fended off the 2005 and ’06 F1 champion for most of the opening stint. But then, cold tyres following a virtual safety car restart left him vulnerable.

“It was great to fight with Fernando,” said Leclerc. “In Baku we fought quickly on different strategies, here we were on the same strategy.

“It’s always an honour for me to fight with such a big name in F1. I learn twice more fighting with him than other drivers, so it was great.

“To be honest in the helmet you don’t think you’re fighting with Fernando Alonso.

“When I put on the helmet every driver is the same for me, trying to keep them behind like any other.”

The Monegasque driver acknowledged that Barcelona’s nature as a tough circuit to overtake on helped him. But he also revealed that a front-left tyre problem made his task more Herculean.

As a result, he dropped behind Sergio Perez’s Force India, but managed to hold on to 10th.

“At the end it was very difficult to keep him [Alonso] behind,” said Leclerc.

“The front left was completely done, [and I had the] same with Sergio. My front left was destroyed, I had graining, blistering, everything. It was very bad.”

He admitted that the team feared it would be difficult on a track that exposes any downforce weakness. Charles Leclerc also isn’t particularly thrilled to be in Monaco in two weeks’ time as he believes that a similar issue could occur.

He said: “We took the opportunities, we had some crashes [ahead], but I think we were not so far off points anyway.

“I expected us to struggle a lot. So hopefully we are also wrong for the expectations of Monaco!”

Even Sauber team boss Frederic Vasseur said that the top-10 finish surprised him.

“It was impressive for us to be in Q2 because it was not our favourite track at all on paper and we thought we would struggle,” he said.

“Qualifying went well, the race pace was OK – perhaps we need to be more consistent during the race. We were a bit too up and down.

“But it’s very encouraging for the team to score points in Barcelona, it was not expected at all.”