Leclerc is "not over the moon" but Barcelona result felt good after missing out on victory in Monaco

Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc stated that while he is "not over the moon," after his third-place finish at the Spanish Grand Prix, but the Barcelona result "felt good" after fractionally missing out on victory in Monaco.

Ferrari made slight improvements to the qualifying pace of its SF25 at Barcelona which enabled Lewis Hamilton and Charles Leclerc to qualify fifth and seventh on the grid respectively.

The Italian outfit had expected to display an even better race pace given their usual form swing between qualifying and races, and they really had the upper hand over Mercedes. In fact, Leclerc matched race winner Oscar Piastri’s pace at certain times of the 66-lap Spanish Grand Prix.

The Monegasque looked on for fourth after a two-stop strategy, but the safety car restart opened new opportunities for Leclerc. Max Verstappen had a huge moment at the restart, and the Ferrari driver was able to to pick off the reigning champion into Turn 1 to finish third at Barcelona.

The Monegasque stated that while he is "not over the moon," after his third-place finish at the Spanish Grand Prix, but the Barcelona result "felt good" after fractionally missing out on victory in Monaco.

"I mean, it's not like I'm over the moon for a second or third place, but it still feels good because coming to the weekend, I did not expect that, but so didn’t I last week as well in Monaco.

"I think though in Monaco, the disappointment was big because in FP1, FP2, FP3 we were very strong. It was not the case here. So, we weren’t strong in FP1, FP2, FP3 or qualifying.

"But I knew I had sacrificed quali yesterday in order to be strong in the race today, and it seems to have paid off—with a little bit of luck as well—that gave us the podium.

"So on that, it’s a good surprise. And I’m very happy about our weekend, but I’m not happy about our overall performance. And on that, we need to do a step soon," added Leclerc.