Just two laps from the close, Leclerc was brought into the pits to change for soft tires, as Ferrari targeted an extra point by clinching the fastest lap of the race. The Monagesque was overtaken by Fernando Alonso when he came out of the pits. Leclerc would overtake the Spaniard on the last lap of the race but missed out on the fastest lap by six tenths of a second.
To exacerbate maters, Leclerc was slapped a five-second penalty for exceeding the speed limit in the pitlane by 1 km/hr. That meant he lost his final race position to Alonso, eventually finishing sixth. However, Binotto claimed that chasing the fastest lap was the right thing for Ferrari to do, highlighting the need to be ‘brave’ at times.
Binotto did add that the team needs to analyse why it didn’t get the fastest lap at Spa, saying:
Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc reflects on another disappointing weekend
Charles Leclerc reflected on what was another disappointing weekend for the team at Spa, as he lost further points to Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, who won for the ninth time this season.
The Ferrari driver encountered trouble early on in the race when a visor tear-off forced him into an early pitstop. From that point, he was only playing catch up to the rest of the field. Leclerc said:
The Ferrari driver is now 98 points behind Verstappen in the championship as a title challenge is beginning to appear like a distant dream.
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