Leclerc confesses to F1 mistakes that cost Ferrari

Charles Leclerc has confessed to making two mistakes that hampered Ferrari's chances in the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.

From sixth on the grid, Leclerc ran fifth in the opening laps, tucked up behind Yuki Tsunoda and Esteban Ocon in third and fourth, with the fast-starting Max Verstappen quickly behind in the tricky Interlagos conditions. 

As the intermediate tyres started to wear down, Leclerc was the first to pull the trigger for fresh intermediates, but he dropped into midfield traffic - with the misery further compounded by the safety car and red flag.

He eventually made his way back to fifth by the flag, beating home Lando Norris by 1.9s, but the Monegasque admitted post-race that had made two mistakes which hampered progress.

"We decided the set-up with the team, but I wanted to go in one direction, but it was the wrong one," Leclerc told media including RacingNews365.

"The pace was just not there, whether it was in qualifying, where we weren't too bad, but in the race, we were nowhere.

"It was a mistake [to pit], but it has to be said that in a race like this, it is very difficult to not make any mistakes in terms of strategy as there are so many calls you need to make.

"Only the top three made no mistakes, but we were on the other side of things. We stopped as I wanted free air, so I asked the team to find free air, and they boxed me that lap

"But unfortunately, the time in the pit-entry and pit-exit in the wet was longer than we thought and I ended up in the middle of traffic with Ollie [Bearman] and Lewis [Hamilton]."

Ferrari's damage limitation

In the grand prix, Leclerc was the only Ferrari to score after Carlos Sainz retired, hauling 10 points, compared to McLaren's 12. 

Coupled with the results of the sprint where McLaren finished one-two with Leclerc third and Sainz fifth, it meant McLaren pulled out a total of seven points on Ferrari in the constructors' championship race, with the gap now 36 points with three rounds remaining. 

Limiting the losses was the "only thing" Ferrari could be happy with, Leclerc felt.

"The only thing we can be satisfied with is being ahead of the two McLarens, losing only four points in the constructors' is a big damage limitation on a weekend they seemed so strong," he said.