Charles Leclerc voices relief after overcoming 'mentally difficult' F1 period

Charles Leclerc has admitted he endured a “mentally difficult” stretch in F1 prior to his win at the British Grand Prix.

Leclerc prevailed on Sunday in a race that saw a chaotic end, resulting in a finish behind the safety car following a crash for Max Verstappen.

The Ferrari driver took the lead of the grand prix on the opening lap of the race and looked comfortable in the opening phase.

However, with Kimi Antonelli making a late pit stop for fresh tyres, Leclerc was due to come under pressure in the final laps, before Antonelli's charge was halted by a car issue.

Leclerc conceded his chances of victory were looking very slim before Antonelli's surge came to an end.

"With Kimi, it would have been close,” he said. “He was very fast when he was coming towards me. It would have been very difficult to keep that first place.

"Then I heard he had a problem so I was like 'OK, now I have a big gap and it should be straightforward'.

"Then with the Safety Car, some backmarkers had to pass us, so I did all the Safety Car time at 100kph, so my tyres were very cold.

"Not great for the fans around the track but in the helmet I was happy that there was not a restart to keep that win."

Prior to the Silverstone win, Leclerc endured a tough stretch in which he was consistently outpaced by team-mate Lewis Hamilton and was susceptible to mistakes in qualifying.

Having restored his confidence behind the wheel, Leclerc is hopeful he can get himself in the mix more often going forward.

“After Monaco, the feeling wasn't there. I crashed in Q3, then in the race we had an issue and that ended our race.

“In Barcelona, the feeling was good but I crashed again. It was very difficult mentally. 

“Austria wasn't so great but here I we managed to put everything together and I hope I can keep that momentum going forward.”