Austrian Grand Prix: Charles Leclerc hopes Ferrari can learn from Silverstone mistakes
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Charles Leclerc is third in the drivers' championship, 43 points behind leader Max Verstappen
Charles Leclerc says he is hopeful Ferrari can learn from the mistakes made during the British Grand Prix.
The 24-year-old lost victory at Silverstone when Ferrari chose not to pit him for fresh tyres during a late-race safety car period.
His team-mate Carlos Sainz did stop for fresh tyres and went on to win, while Leclerc dropped to fourth on his old rubber.
"There are things we could have done better," said Leclerc.
"But we know where we did the mistakes and I hope we can grow from that."
It was the second time in four races Leclerc has lost a winning position through a team strategic error, after he also dropped from first to fourth in Monaco.
Leclerc said Ferrari had already "changed a few things" in the running of the team before the Austrian Grand Prix this weekend.
"Me personally, there's nothing I could have done differently in a way," he said. "As a team, we have changed a few things already, just in the way of communication throughout the race, to be ready in that particular moment.
"Once a safety car is out, you need to take a decision there, and if you are not ready for that, it's tricky."
But he said claims that there was division within Ferrari were "untrue", insisting: "We are extremely united."
Leclerc added: "Is there a disappointment after the last race because we finished first and fourth? Yes there was. Were we very happy that Carlos won his first race? Yes we were, honestly.
"But obviously before the safety car you were first and second and you finished the race first and fourth so there's some kind of disappointment too. [There's] not any kind of division in the team."
Binotto's Monaco check-in
Leclerc said team boss Mattia Binotto visited him in Monaco to 'make sure that I was OK'
The strategic errors in Monaco and Silverstone are not the only blows Leclerc has suffered to his title chances in recent races.
He has also had engine failures while leading in Spain and Azerbaijan, meaning he has lost a total of four potentially winning positions in the past five races.
That bleak run of results has seen a dramatic turnaround in the championship.
Leclerc was leading rival Max Verstappen of Red Bull by 46 points after the first three races of the season, but slipped to 49 points behind before Silverstone. And even though Verstappen had a difficult race in Britain with a damaged car, Leclerc was able to claw back only six points on the Dutchman.
Leclerc said that team boss Mattia Binotto had visited him at home in Monaco between the British and Austrian races "to make sure it was all fine on my side".
"He was first quite angry with me after Silverstone because he saw me extremely down, which obviously he understood, but he just wanted to make sure that I was OK," Leclerc said.
"And I realised that OK, I had done also an amazing job considering the situation that I had found myself in after the safety car.
"Then in Monaco, something we usually do, he came to Monaco because the last five races have been quite hard on me, and I just wanted to stay at home and disconnect a bit from everything, to be fully 100% for this weekend."
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