Was Leclerc too hard on himself after his late Turkish GP mistake?

"No, I did a shit job! I did a shit job. I did a shit job. I did a shit job - that's it. I did a fucking shit job. I am so sorry to the whole team. I am fucking stupid. As much as in Baku."

These were Charles Leclerc's first words - at least the ones he said into his team radio - after he finished fourth in last weekend's Turkish Grand Prix. There was some further ranting in Italian in the middle, a fair bit of it delivered while team principal Mattia Binotto was speaking to him from Ferrari's Maranello base.

After crossing the line at the end of a race where he had started 12th, then recovered from a terrible start and running 14th at the end of the first lap (he was 17th leaving the grid, only ahead of Lando Norris and the pitlane-starting Williams cars), he bowed his head in his SF1000's cockpit as he pulled the grubby scarlet car to the inside of the track. First, he rested his hands on the steering wheel, then he pounded it in frustration and tore at his helmet as the car rolled off the road, his response above, as he gathered it up, swiftly following his engineer saying: "You did a good job."

On paper, gaining eight positions (13 from Turn 1) in any race is a sign of a good one. And helping Ferrari score 27 points (the most of any team last weekend) when paired with the 15 Sebastian Vettel took for finishing third in the team's awful 2020 season is an excellent result overall.

The problem, for Leclerc at least, is that it could have been significantly better.

On the final lap of the wet/drying thriller at Istanbul Park on Sunday, Sergio Perez slipped off the road at Turn 9 - his ancient intermediates finally having had enough. Leclerc, who had hunted down and passed Vettel after triggering both of the main rounds of pitstops in the 58-lap event during his second stint, seized his chance. He was by Perez in a flash.

But, despite Leclerc activating DRS, having been behind Perez at the critical detection point ahead of the Turn 9 braking point, the Racing Point driver was able to build back enough momentum following his mistake. Then, with Mercedes grunt and a healthy slipstream off the inherently draggy SF1000, Perez pulled right back up to Leclerc, who defended to the inside approaching the Turn 12 overtaking spot.

But this brought him over a treacherous wet patch on the gripless surface that caused so much angst last weekend. As well as being like ice in non-wet conditions, it also took an age to dry. And so, as Leclerc moved back towards the racing line to cover off Perez and ace the upcoming corner - his suddenly wetter right-front locked. Glory turned to disaster in an instant.

"In Turn 9 we were very competitive and Sergio on that lap did a mistake," Leclerc explained after the race. "So, in Turn 10 I tried to go around the outside, but the grip was very poor.

"The Racing Point in general with the slipstream was very quick on the straights, so he manages to be on the right side, and I locked up at the end. To be honest, looking back at the data I didn't do anything crazy. Same braking point, same pressure, but obviously it was more wet on the inside.

"It's right that he is angry, he did a mistake and lost the podium that way, but as I said, in the big picture probably irrelevant for him" Sebastian Vettel

"So it's completely my mistake. I should have anticipated that, so I went straight. It was actually very difficult to make the corner anyway. Which I fortunately did [not]. And yeah, that's it."

The brief moment of locked right-front cost Leclerc what would've been a shock second place on the podium. It also allowed Vettel to scamper by and seal his first rostrum visit since Mexico 2019 - a parting gift in his final Ferrari season. But Leclerc had earned that third place on merit.

In the final stint, race winner Lewis Hamilton was the fastest driver of the top five finishers - over the 20 laps following his move for the lead on Perez and the start of the final tour. McLaren's Carlos Sainz Jr was just 0.085s slower per lap, but Leclerc - on tyres three laps older - was also just 0.108s slower than Hamilton. For comparison, Perez lapped at 1.326s slower on average, and Vettel 0.372s.

While this highlights again what an excellent job Hamilton did to secure his 16th wet weather F1 win, it also shows just how good Ferrari's 2021 drivers did in their recovery efforts last Sunday.

PLUS: How Hamilton's critical changes decided a Turkish GP "that wasn't his race to win"

But while Sainz spoke of being "proud" at his "hard-earned P5", Leclerc was lambasting himself.

When asked about Leclerc's team radio reaction in the post-race press conference - split into two parts with the second and third drivers preceding the newly crowned seven-time world champion - Vettel offered the following advice.

"I will tell him later that being on the podium or not actually is a bit irrelevant for him because he has so many years ahead of him and so many podiums to come, which I'm sure,' he said.

"It's right that he is angry, he did a mistake and lost the podium that way, but as I said, in the big picture probably irrelevant for him."

So, was Leclerc too harsh in his immediate assessment of his performance in the Turkish GP?

To a certain extent, yes, because in such times of stress and emotion it's always a good thing for anyone to give themselves a break. And it should not be forgotten what an excellent race drive this was, following on from both his struggle in qualifying after showing promising pace in practice.

But the answer is also a clear 'no'.

Leclerc has explained before why he is so hyper-critical of his performances - it's part of that strong mental attitude that he continues to work on. It helps to clear the fog of frustration so he can move on and learn to avoid repeating mistakes.

While Leclerc's late mistake was understandable, so was his reaction

Leclerc referenced his high-profile shunt in qualifying for the 2019 Azerbaijan GP (above), where he crashed in Q2 having looked a favourite for pole and possibly the race win.

The circumstances of that incident were not as clear cut as it seemed given Ferrari was trying to gain a race strategy advantage by qualifying on the medium tyres in that session. In 2020, Hamilton has shown again that that extra pressure can lead to mistakes - as evidenced by his last-corner slip in Q2 in Sochi, which ultimately meant he had to start on the soft tyres and cost him the win to Valtteri Bottas even before his practice start penalties the next day...

Last Sunday, the conditions were among the most challenging F1's current crop have faced. The freshly laid asphalt was a nightmare in the dry, let alone with the added water from the pre-race shower. Renowned wet-weather master Hamilton slipped off the road twice, while the first of Max Verstappen's spins cost him a possible victory.

So, while Leclerc's late mistake was understandable, so was his reaction.

As Vettel says "it's right that he is angry" - because that is the mark of a champion. No, they're not perfect, no one ever is, but their responses are always telling.