Leclerc ‘back to struggling’ as he identifies biggest limitation in difficult Austrian GP

Charles Leclerc feels that he was “struggling a lot” at the Austrian Grand Prix after he plummeted to P8, marking a stark contrast to the impressive Qualifying performance that earned him P2 on the grid.

Ferrari arrived at the Red Bull Ring with plenty of anticipation around their latest power unit upgrade, which they hoped would further reduce the gap to Mercedes, and it looked like a fantastic start when Leclerc missed out on pole position at the last second to George Russell.

However, the Monegasque saw his pace fade away during the 71-lap event and he gradually fell behind his rivals, losing out in every battle he encountered before eventually settling for a disappointing eighth place.

Asked whether he was surprised at the sudden downturn, he said: “Yes. Qualifying was a step forward yesterday. I felt a little bit better in the car and was getting a more positive feeling but today it’s kind of back to struggling.

“We’ve got to work and try to understand what’s going on there. I've been struggling a lot.”

After losing a position to Lewis Hamilton on the opening lap, Leclerc was one of the first drivers to pit as everyone fought to manage the significant tyre degradation at the Red Bull Ring, dropping him to P11 in the early stages.

Others followed suit and he improved back to P3 before coming under pressure from Kimi Antonelli and McLaren’s Oscar Piastri. The Mercedes driver got past cleanly but Leclerc’s next clash resulted in minor contact, which damaged his front wing and saw him immediately overtaken by Piastri and a charging Hamilton.

Although he headed in for fresh tyres and found a way up the order once again, both McLaren racers sailed back through to demote him to P8 for good. He later stated that overheating was the biggest issue he faced, and said: “Already from when I was starting to brake, I had a lot of overheating and I was struggling a lot.”

The Austrian Grand Prix featured Leclerc’s first race finish since Round 5 in Canada, with his last two retirements causing him to lose valuable ground in the standings – he now sits sixth, level with Lando Norris and 46 points adrift of his Ferrari team mate.