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Charles Leclerc has revealed how Ferrari tricked Formula 1 rival Sergio Perez into making a second pitstop – which cost him points at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix Ranked second on the list.
Leclerc and Perez are level on points going into the final race and whoever leads will be runner-up to runaway champion Max Verstappen.
After a first-round pit stop, Perez remained second on the road as both teams tried to decide whether a one-stop or two-stop strategy was best.
On lap 34, the moment of truth came when Leclerc was told to “fight on the opposite side of Perez”.
Leclerc’s Ferrari strategic gamble
In response, Perez pitted to cover Leclerc – who didn’t play and was committed to a one-stop.
That dropped Perez to sixth, some 20 seconds behind the Ferrari, with 24 stoppage-times remaining.
Perez was held up by traffic that included Lewis Hamilton on his comeback and was just 1.3 seconds short of his goal, with Leclerc finishing runner-up by three points.
Speaking of Sky Sports F1 After the race, Leclerc revealed the ruse that helped him.
“I can say it now, but we fooled him into thinking we were going to pit,” Monaco explained.
“He took it and made the second leg – so everything we did was perfect and I’m very proud of our execution.
“It’s been a very difficult season for the whole team. We started really well but later in the season we obviously had a lot of problems with reliability, strategy and tire management.
“It’s not easy to manage, knowing the car has the potential to do well, so at least it’s good to end with a high score.
“Now we need to concentrate on finding the next step because Red Bull seems to have something we don’t have at the moment.
“But it’s encouraging to see such a good performance in terms of game execution.”
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