Charles Leclerc was relieved to win the Austrian Grand Prix after dealing with an "incredibly difficult" issue on his car in the final laps of the event. The Ferrari seemed to have stronger pace than the Red Bull of Max Verstappen during the race, and had built a decent lead ahead of Verstappen in the final stages. However, after Carlos Sainz dramatically retired from P3 with a mechanical issue, Leclerc grew concerned about a problem with the throttle pedal on his own F1-75. "It was a really good race," Leclerc said after the Grand Prix. "The pace was there. At the beginning, we had some good fights with Max. The end was incredibly difficult. "I had this problem with the throttle, and it would get stuck at 20 or 30 per cent throttle in the low speed, so it was very tricky, but we managed to make it stick until the end and I'm so, so happy."
Leclerc relieved with "incredible" win
With Leclerc's car issues occuring shortly after Sainz's retirement, Leclerc admits that what happened to his teammate was in his mind. "Weirdly, it was more or less at the same time, so of course I had it in my mind," he explained. "I knew it was not a problem with the engine, because it was really the pedal that was feeling weird, first at pick-up and then at the end, it would not come back to zero but, luckily, it went until the end of the race." This marks Leclerc's first victory since the Australian Grand Prix back in April, and comes after a run of difficult weekends for the Ferrari driver. "I definitely needed [this] one," the Monegasque continued. "The last five races have been incredibly difficult, for myself but also for the team, obviously. To finally show that we've got the pace in the car and that we can do it is incredible. "So yeah, we need to push until the end."
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