Charles Leclerc said it hurt to not deliver Ferrari the constructors’ championship after running McLaren close at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Leclerc finished third behind his teammate Carlos Sainz, but Lando Norris’ race victory was enough to seal the teams’ title for McLaren.
Ferrari finished just 14 points behind.
Leclerc had fought back from the back of the grid to the podium but took little comfort in his own performance.
Asked if he was satisfied with the recovery drive to the podium, he said: “No, not really. I mean, I’m of course really happy about the race. But the disappointment is a lot bigger.
“You don’t win or lose a championship in the last race. But obviously, it’s over the course of the season and after every single race. And McLaren has just done a better job than us. And congratulations to them. But it obviously hurts when you get to the last race.
“You know there’s an opportunity. It was a very difficult weekend, obviously, already with the penalty on Friday. It was never going to be easy. But after such a good first lap, the hopes were high. And yeah, we just came short of our dream, which was to win the constructors’. So it hurts.”
Ferrari has still not won an F1 title since the constructors’ championship in 2008.
This season was the first time Ferrari arrived at the final race of the year with a chance to win either of F1’s titles.
Leclerc said ultimately that has to be the biggest positive to take from the campaign as a whole.
“I’m very happy because I think the first part of the season wasn’t easy. We were definitely not the fastest car. We were actually struggling for performance. The second part of the season, we’ve done an incredible job, mostly for improving the car in terms of pace.
“We’ve picked up a lot of pace. We were a lot closer to the guys in front, and actually on some races we were probably the fastest car and this is thanks to the team in Maranello, thanks to Carlos, thanks to me and the team back at the track as well to have done such a great job with the new upgrades.
“I think the highlight of this season has definitely been the execution. To be fighting for the constructors’ at the end of the year until the very last race, if you look at the performance we’ve had in the first part of the year … that’s where I think we’ve done a particularly good job. So on that, I’m very proud.”
