Charles Leclerc wasn't able to lead Ferrari to a podium finish at the Italian Grand Prix, but the Monegasque driver believes his performance at Monza on Sunday was one of his best in F1 to date. Daniel Ricciardo ended McLaren's winless run by taking the chequered flag ahead of teammate Lando Norris, with Mercedes driver Valtteri Bottas rounding out the podium. Leclerc finished just 2.388s adrift of Bottas, despite being in the thick of the action all day, but that didn't dampen his spirits. "What puts a smile on my face is my own performance," Leclerc told RacingNews365.com and other members of the media. "I feel it's one of my top five performances since joining Formula 1." "I really gave it my all, I tried to take every opportunity, but unfortunately we were quite vulnerable before Turn 1, and that made our race quite difficult. "On the other hand, the [car's] performance was quite good. It's frustrating to arrive so close to the podium, but that's the way it is." Despite the frustrating end result, Leclerc was pleased with how the Italian Grand Prix played out for Ferrari, given their performance at Monza last season. Both cars failed to reach Q3 with Leclerc and then-teammate Sebastian Vettel retiring from the race, showing just how much progress the team has made in a year. "It wasn't the easiest of races, but at the end, if you look at where we were last year and where we were now, it's a big step forward," Leclerc added. "We need to keep working like this."
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