Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc admitted he did not defend well enough against Oscar Piastri and lost victory in the Azerbaijan Grand Prix to the McLaren driver after a thrilling duel.

Leclerc started from pole position for the fourth time in a row on the streets of Baku, but after the only pit stop of the race, second-placed Piastri made a daring move at Turn 1 on lap 20 to take the lead from the Monegasque.

Leclerc stayed with the Australian for the rest of the race and tried to overtake him several times in the same corner using DRS. But because his hard tires failed, the Ferrari driver had to settle for second place.

Leclerc admitted he was surprised by Piastri’s late move into Turn 1 and realised he should have tried to defend rather than rushing back to the racing line. He thought Piastri was probably too far behind to try anything.

“To be honest, we lost the race because I didn’t defend very well at the end of the straight,” Leclerc said. “But it is what it is. Sometimes you make mistakes and you learn from them.

“When Oscar passed me I thought: ‘Okay, now it’s just a matter of staying calm, trying to keep the tyres (alive) and pass him again later’.

“But actually it was much more difficult than that and on the straights I couldn’t get as close as I wanted. I think McLaren maybe had a little bit less downforce, so on the straights they were very quick. In the corners we were a bit quicker.”

Charles Leclerc, Scuderia Ferrari, 2nd position, Lando Norris, McLaren F1 Team, congratulate Oscar Piastri, McLaren F1 Team, 1st position, in Parc Ferme

Photo by: Dom Romney / Motorsport Images

Leclerc initially thought Piastri was “crazy” for pushing so hard in the second stint, forcing the Ferrari driver to also abuse his hard tyres to keep up, almost costing him second place behind Red Bull’s Sergio Perez.

However, the Red Bull driver was involved in a collision with the second Ferrari of Carlos Sainz on the penultimate lap, leaving Leclerc to finish second with worn tyres.

“We were very competitive and the car felt good. Unfortunately in FP1 and FP2 we didn’t do high fuel running on my side and we went for a set-up direction that was maybe a bit more difficult to handle in the race, especially on the hard tyres,” he added.

“I was really struggling to keep those rear tires (alive). And towards the end I really thought I was going to throw it into the wall. It was a close call.”