Watch: All of Charles Leclerc overtakes during his sensational drive from P19 to P3 in the F1 Abu Dhabi GP
Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc overtook 16 cars on his way to P3 after starting the race from P19 at the 2024 F1 Abu Dhabi Grand Prix on Sunday evening. The Monagasque driver Made an exceptional start to the race, passing drivers at every turn until Turn 7 on the opening lap.
The Ferrari driver had an excellent launch and got past the Williams and the Alpine off the line while also passing a slow-moving RB of Yuki Tsunoda heading into Turn 1. After making his way from a spinning Max Verstappen and Oscar Piastri in Turn 2, he made easy work of Lewis Hamilton into Turn 5.
But he did brilliantly, avoiding the mellay at the end of the DRS zone at Turn 7 as he was on the outside of the four cars and got out ahead of the Haas while going through the second DRS into Turn 9.
After the end of Lap 1, he had already made his way to P8 and made three more passes before he was stuck behind Mercedes' George Russell in P4. He eventually got past the British driver after undercutting him during the round of pit stops to take his place at the podium after starting from the back of the grid.
When asked about his scintillating race start in the press conference, Charles Leclerc was asked if he had made so many positions on Lap 1 to which he replied:
"I don't know. Maybe in Formula 2, I've had a few good first laps. But in F1, I think it's definitely the best first lap I've had."
Charles Leclerc gives his take on his P3 finish at the Abu Dhabi GP
Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc stated that although he was happy with his race as he finished on the podium he was disappointed overall as the Italian team failed to win the constructors championship from McLaren.
In his post-race press conference, the 27-year-old said:
"No, not really. I mean, again, I'm, of course, really happy about the race. But the disappointment is a lot bigger. You don't win or lose a chairmanship 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."
Charles Leclerc eventually finished the 2024 season P3 in the driver standings 18 points behind runner-up Lando Norris with 356 points.