Ferrari duo Carlos Sainz and Charles Leclercadmitted they were left ‘hurting’ to miss out on the 2024 Formula 1 constructors’ title.
Both Ferrari and McLaren were in the running for the teams’ title this year, but ultimately McLaren claimed the crown by 14 points courtesy of Lando Norris taking victory in the season-ending Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
The second McLaren of Oscar Piastri was restricted to fighting back to 10th having been hit by Max Verstappen at the start, with Sainz finishing second and Leclerc recovering brilliantly from 19th to also make the podium.
“Obviously, it is a bit of a bittersweet feeling, in the end,” said Sainz, who took second place in his final race for Ferrari ahead of his move to Williams.
“P2 I think was the maximum we could do today, given the pace of Lando in the McLaren. Yeah. I gave it everything, especially the first stint it looked like, we could hang on to them.
“Then as soon as we put the hard tyres, they just seemed to be that one or two tenths quicker per lap, like we’ve seen all weekend, and they just got a bit out of out of reach.
Carlos Sainz, Ferrari SF-24
Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images
“But yeah, congratulations, first of all, to McLaren. They deserved this championship. They’ve been rock solid in the last two-thirds of the championship, and they’ve been incredible from our side, I think we can be proud of the effort and the championship we put together.
“It’s been a tough year, but definitely a year where we need to be proud of and hopefully be back here soon.”
Leclerc’s impressive drive through the field began as he avoided the first-lap drama to pick up plenty of places, with the speed of his Ferrari ultimately allowing the Monegasque to battle through to third place.
Leclerc’s weekend was compromised on Friday when he was hit with a 10-place grid penalty for a new battery pack that was outside of his allocation for the season.
“I knew I had to be very aggressive. So I knew that in lap one I had to take all the risks possible in order to gain as many places as possible to then be in a good position for the rest of the race, which was achieved,” he explained.
“But then, unfortunately, we were just starting too far back to do anything better than what we’ve done today. I think we’ve done the maximum.
“It hurts, obviously, because when, the season is so close until the end, and it was a hard hit on Friday when we knew we had the penalty, we still gave it all, and we just come short of our goal, which is a shame, but at the end, we’ve tried everything.
Charles Leclerc, Scuderia Ferrari, 3rd position, congratulates Lando Norris, McLaren F1 Team, 1st position, in Parc Ferme
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Charles Leclerc, Scuderia Ferrari, 3rd position, congratulates Lando Norris, McLaren F1 Team, 1st position, in Parc Ferme
Photo by: Zak Mauger / Motorsport Images
“If we look [at] our first part of the year, we were nowhere near being in the fight for the constructors’. Then the second part of the season was really good, and the team has done an incredible job.
“I think Carlos and I have done a really good job as well together. So yeah, we ended strong, and I’m sure that next year will hopefully start as strong as what we have ended this year.”
