"We need to look first at how much we lost" - Ferrari's Charles Leclerc feels a longer VSC would not have changed outcome of 2022 F1 Italian GP

Charles Leclerc feels the Virtual Safety Car period being longer during the 2022 F1 Italian GP would not have given him a significant advantage in the race. The Ferrari driver felt the gap to his rival Max Verstappen was too much for an extended VSC period to give them a significant advantage.

When asked by Sportskeeda if an extended VSC period would have played to his advantage, Leclerc said:

“Well, I think we need to look first at how much we lost. I think it will have been very, very difficult anyway. We probably would have had a bit more margin to Max behind and maybe we will have just given a shot to finish the race on a medium, which was not a possibility because Max was too close with these fresh tyres so we knew we just had to stop before he caught us, so yeah, it was like that.”

The Ferrari driver felt they were not at a significant pace advantage over the Dutchman, who was on a fresher set of tires and had more pace in them. Charles Leclerc was unable to log the same lap times on various compounds and believes an extended VSC period or an early pitstop would not have aided him in gaining any significant advantage over his rival.

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Charles Leclerc defends Ferrari’s strategy for 2022 F1 Italian GP

Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc felt his team had made strategic errors in the past, but in Monza, he was crippled by luck and lacked pace rather than strategy. The Monegasque felt the team had taken the correct calls as per the proceedings of the race, citing Verstappen's position.

Speaking about Ferrari’s strategy, the 24-year-old said:

“Well, I think if you look at our season as a whole, for sure there’s been mistakes and we need to get better. If today was a clear mistake, I don’t think so because it was just our choice, and looking back at it, you just cannot predict whenever the VSC is going to end. If I was not stopping Max will have pitted and he will have had the same problem as I did. So nothing to blame on anybody there. Just a little bit unlucky, and probably missing a little bit of pace too.”

The Dutchman’s current win has increased the points gap in the driver’s championship to 116 points over Charles Leclerc. At the current rate, the drivers’ championship is expected to wrap up either at the upcoming Singapore GP or the Japanese GP.

Also Checkout:- F1 Schedule 2022