SILVERSTONE, England ¨C Charles Leclerc spoke of how he had shut out negative noise and changed narratives as the Ferrari driver celebrated his first Formula One win since 2024 at Silverstone on Sunday.
The Monegasque has struggled to extract the most from his car this ?season while teammate and seven-time world champion Lewis Hamilton has hit a sweet spot.
Hamilton, ?now ?41 years old, triumphed in Spain last month to end the ?Italian team¡¯s victory drought, which also dated back to 2024, and answer the critics who last year suggested the Briton might be over the hill after he failed to get on the podium.
Leclerc has come under fire this year, particularly after he crashed twice on home ?streets in Monaco. He also crashed in Spain and said he felt ashamed.
¡°It means a lot because when things get tough, and that¡¯s literally the ?situation I¡¯ve been in the last ?few races, obviously there¡¯s a lot of negativity around me in general with narratives being created,¡± Leclerc said after the ninth ?win of his career ?and first since the U.S. Grand Prix in ?Austin in October 2024.
¡°And it¡¯s never a nice environment to work in.¡±
Leclerc said he was ¡°super-proud¡± ?of his ?team for helping him regain the missing feeling with the car at a fast track where confidence is key. Sunday was Ferrari¡¯s second win in three races.
He said he had tried to ¡°cancel the noise¡± as much as possible, and tried ?not to look at his mobile phone and focus on what was important and relevant.
¡°Things are said, and you go from hero to zero, from zero to hero, in like two days in this sport,¡± he added.
¡°So my job was really to just try and cancel ?that ?noise, to not look at anything, to not listen to anything. ?And I know that I didn¡¯t become a bad driver from one day to the other. ?It was just a matter of finding that feeling with the car.
¡°I was very strong for the first part of the season, then I lost a bit of feeling with the car. We changed quite a few things with the car, ?and it took a bit more time than what I had wished to get back to the level I wanted.¡±
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