"Podium is a good achievement," claims Charles Leclerc with P3 finish despite grid penalty at 2022 F1 US GP

In a rather dramatic 2022 F1 US GP, Charles Leclerc managed to make a brilliant recovery from P12 after taking a grid penalty to secure a P3 finish. This became the first time that the Monegasque made it to the podium places after starting from a grid position further down from P7.

In a post-race media interaction, Leclerc seemed satisfied with the result at the end of the Grand Prix. He said:

“I’m satisfied in a way because we started P12, so podium is a good achievement. But looking at the race it’s obviously a little bit disappointing. We had the pace, but then we had a little bit too much deg towards the end of the race. At the end, P3 starting from P12 is not that bad.”

Charles Leclerc took a 10-place grid penalty in Texas and managed to set the second-fastest pace in Saturday's qualifying. He drove a strong race and pulled off impressive moves throughout to take his 10th podium of the 2022 F1 season. Meanwhile, Max Verstappen went on to win the race from Lewis Hamilton, who got painfully close to securing his first race win of the season this afternoon at COTA.

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Charles Leclerc says he got "too greedy" in France, costing him the race

Charles Leclerc claims that while the 2022 F1 season has been a tricky one for him, he is happy with how the year has panned out. The Ferrari driver admitted that his mistakes cost him significant points at the Imola GP and the French GP, although he is not being too hard on himself about the same.

Speaking to RacingNews365, he reflected on the season so far:

“Honestly, I’m very happy with this season. Of course we’re always going to talk about my mistakes in Imola and in France, but in over 23 races - we have too many now - there’s always going to be a mistake at one point or another and especially (when you are) pushing for the limit. So yes, I was probably too greedy in France when there was no need to be greedy at that moment of the race (when he still needed to make his pitstop and was 20 seconds ahead of Verstappen).”

“Maybe also in Imola when the best I could (have done) was just staying in my position, and I thought about doing better. From a driver’s point of view, it has given me many more things (to learn on and work from) that probably you don’t see from the outside.”

“As a driver, you always try to work on the small details - not weaknesses - but every time you a race, you learn from it. You try to bring it forward and be a better driver. There’s not much I would have changed personally at the beginning of the season.”

Charles Leclerc currently stands second in the drivers' standings with a two-point advantage over Red Bull's Sergio Perez.