“What?!” Leclerc replied to his race engineer, Bryan Bozzi, after being told the result. He laughed to himself afterwards: “Mamma mia. My God!” The bemusement initially hidden by Leclerc’s helmet remained etched on his face after he hopped out of his car and celebrated with his team.

Charles Leclerc suffered a big setback around lap 40 that made him vulnerable to Oscar Piastri and George Russell.