Charles Leclerc Questions Ferrari's Strategy at Grand Prix Las Vegas

Is Ferrari at fault for its strategy during Charles Leclerc's outing at the Grand Prix Las Vegas?

Charles Leclerc has questioned Ferrari's strategy during the event, admitting that the team 'made a mistake' after Leclerc was overtaken by several rivals.

Leclerc bounced back from a disappointing qualifying performance with an aggressive performance in Las Vegas

He appeared to be on the right track to finish in the top four, but was overtaken by Kimi Antonelli and Oscar Piastri.

The lack of speed on straightaways made it impossible for Leclerc to challenge Piastri in the final laps, with the McLaren driver also in range of DRS with Antonelli.

Leclerc had initially taken the lead ahead of both drivers after an aggressive stint, managing to pass Fernando Alonso, Isack Hadjar, and Piastri to climb to fourth after the pit stops.

Ferrari chose not to respond to Piastri's undercut attempt, meaning Leclerc rejoined behind the McLaren driver.

In the end, the team opted for a higher-downforce package for Leclerc during the race, which made it difficult for him to pass.

In a post-race interview with F1 TV, Leclerc questioned Ferrari's strategy.

"Yes, I'm not sure about the strategy... I had a feeling that our car made a mistake," he said.

"I thought Oscar was struggling, he overtook us. Other cars behind overtook us too, Antonelli overtook us. It was a shame because we lost a great opportunity to do something special.

"I felt like our speed was there, but unfortunately Oscar was ahead of me and did the DRS on Kimi and we had high downforce, and it was almost impossible to overtake in the first stint.

"I had to take a big risk. In the second stint, it was impossible to overtake Oscar. He was too fast. It was a shame for that second stint."

Last weekend, Leclerc was frustrated by the difficulty in driving Ferrari's car in wet conditions. He claimed that the team has struggled with rain since he joined the team in 2019, with fellow drivers Fernando Alonso and Carlos Sainz also struggling.

He acknowledged that improving their performance in wet conditions will be a priority ahead of the 2026 season.

"I'm disappointed. Sixth wasn't what I wanted, especially after Thursday's result, which was very positive," he added.

"Friday was difficult because of the rain, then Saturday was very positive in terms of speed. Just the start was too far back.

We have to really improve our speed in the wet because we've been left behind too many times and we've had to pay the price at the end of the year. Looking at all the qualifying and races in the wet, we've lost too many points.

This is definitely going to become a priority for me from now on. It was a priority before, but now it's even higher because we've struggled too much."