Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc expressed delight after securing an unexpected third-place finish. The Monegasque driver, who started the race from seventh on the grid, capitalized on a late Safety Car period and a strategic tire choice to claim his second consecutive podium, marking Ferrari’s third podium of the season.
Leclerc’s journey to the podium was anything but straightforward. After sacrificing a second flying lap in qualifying to preserve an extra set of tires, he acknowledged the gamble was a calculated risk. “I didn’t know whether it would pay off – at the end it did,” Leclerc said post-race. “I think P4 in a normal race would have been our position. With a Safety Car we got lucky, and I’m really happy with that.” His decision to save a set of soft tires proved pivotal, allowing him to make significant gains during the race’s final stages.
The race, dominated by McLaren’s Oscar Piastri and Lando Norris, who secured a commanding 1-2 finish, saw dramatic late-race action. A Safety Car, triggered by Kimi Antonelli’s off-track incident on lap 54, bunched up the field with just six laps remaining. Leclerc, running in fourth, seized the opportunity at the restart. As Red Bull’s Max Verstappen, on fresh hard tires, struggled with grip and narrowly avoided a spin exiting the final corner, Leclerc pulled alongside and executed a bold overtake into Turn 1, briefly making contact with the Dutchman. Verstappen’s race unraveled further after a collision with Mercedes’ George Russell, earning him a 10-second penalty that dropped him to 10th.
Leclerc’s podium finish was a morale boost for Ferrari, who had tempered expectations heading into the weekend. After a strong showing in Monaco, where Leclerc narrowly missed out on pole and victory, he predicted a tougher challenge in Spain. “Yesterday, I knew that I was sacrificing qualifying in order to have a better race on Sunday, but I didn’t expect to find myself standing on the podium,” he admitted. “The first two stints were really positive today, the last stint on the medium was a bit more tricky, but then we had the Safety Car that gave us the opportunity to fit soft tires again, and we took advantage of it.”
Despite the joy of the podium, Leclerc remained grounded, emphasizing Ferrari’s need to improve. “We still have a lot of work to do and are not yet as fast as we want to be,” he noted. The result moved Ferrari to second in the Constructors’ Championship, with Leclerc’s 23 points from the race contributing significantly. His teammate, Lewis Hamilton, finished sixth after struggling post-restart, overtaken by Sauber’s Nico Hulkenberg, who delivered a standout fifth-place finish.