Charles Leclerc after P3: "Need to understand what we can do better"

Although Charles Leclerc was able to take a fantastic pole position in Friday's qualifying session for Sunday's race, he could not emulate that success in today's Sprint Race, finishing P3 behind Max Verstappen in P1 and Lewis Hamilton in P2.

Leclerc only P3 after taking pole on Friday

The Monegasque driver started P2 for today's Sprint, but he was squeezed out by Verstappen on the run to turn one, hindering his line into the first corner and leaving him vulnerable to a move from Hamilton, which the British driver was able to pull off.

Leclerc could not reel in the seven-time world champion, leaving him in third place as the chequered flag fell after 19 laps around the Circuit of the Americas. Speaking to David Coulthard after the race, Leclerc spoke about that first corner move, along with the pace shown by Hamilton and the Mercedes. "There was a gap, and I tried. I lost a position to Lewis, and they were quicker, so we need to understand what we can do better tomorrow."

He continued by saying, "At the end, we have quite a lot of data to analyse after having the two cars on different strategies, so I hope we can take advantage of that and win tomorrow."

Leclerc also spoke about the first corner battle in the press conference after the Sprint Race. Leclerc said, "To be honest, I would have done exactly the same if I was in his position. It's on the limit but as I've always said in the past, that's the way I like to fight. Today he didn't play on my way but that's fine. It's part of racing and I'm happy with it."