Charles Leclerc described his result at Formula 1’s 70th Anniversary Grand Prix as a “good surprise” and would have signed up for eighth place prior to the start.
Ferrari struggled for pace again throughout the weekend at Silverstone as it compensated for its straight-line speed deficit by running a low downforce package.
Leclerc qualified only eighth while team-mate Sebastian Vettel failed to make it through to Q3.
Vettel’s struggles continued in race trim as a first-lap spin was followed by a strategy that the German repeatedly queried, eventually classifying 12th.
But Leclerc opted for a one-stop strategy and rose from eighth to fourth, finishing just 10 seconds shy of two-stopping polesitter Valtteri Bottas.
“I mean I’m impressed by the pace to be honest,” said Leclerc, whose result consolidated fourth in the standings.
“I just don’t understand where we found the pace. It’s a good surprise.
“In the morning I would have signed straight away if you would have told me we would be eight, just in the position we started, but fourth, I’m very happy.
“I insisted quite a lot with the team [before the race] to make a one-stop strategy.
“The team was a bit scared which is obviously understandable considering what happened last week but I was pretty confident I could make it work.
“Again in the race I pushed on the radio ‘Plan C, Plan C’ to do the one-stop strategy that we made work.”
Leclerc even felt challenging Bottas for a podium was a possibility until a tyre vibration prompted him to back off.
“In the last laps I was very, very motivated, especially once I saw Bottas and I think [Max] Verstappen just got out on the pits in front of me,” he said.
“And I can see that with the old Hard [tyres] I was actually very close in terms of paces to Bottas, who was just in front.
“So I pushed quite hard and I thought that at one point there would be an opportunity. But this didn’t happen. And then I started to have vibrations. So then I started to slow down quite a lot just to be safe and to make sure that that I will bring the car to the end.”
