Leclerc targets title success as Ferrari find perfection

Sam Hall
Sunday 20 November 2022 14:24

Charles Leclerc has described Ferrari's Abu Dhabi performance as "perfect" after securing second in the drivers' standings.

The Ferrari driver started third at the Yas Marina Circuit but was able to gain ground on Sergio Perez by utilising a bold one-stop strategy.

Given the missteps from the Ferrari pit wall throughout the season, Leclerc voiced early concerns over the decision to stretch his stints but offered his praise after taking the chequered flag second, behind only Max Verstappen.

Leclerc had also highlighted the importance of avoiding errors to round out the year in the wake of operational issues.

"I was 110 per cent from the first lap to the last lap," said Leclerc.

"Honestly, we had the perfect race, there was not much more today.

"I knew that the only possibility for us to beat Checo today was with a different strategy and playing with the tyre management which we did really well and we managed to make the one-stop work so I'm really happy."

Leclerc began the season with two wins from the opening three races of the season but its championship threat quickly faded as Red Bull shook off its reliability problems.

After falling short this term, the Monegasque added: "I really hope next year we can do a step forward in order to fight for the championship.

"But considering where we were last year, it is a really big step forward. I think we improved towards the end of the season in terms of strategy.

"We still need to work in terms of race-pace because on Sundays we seem to struggle a bit more but we will push during the winter break to catch them back a little bit."