Charles Leclerc admits his maiden Formula 1 win will stay with him forever an emotional weekend at the Belgian Grand Prix.
One day after losing his friend Anthoine Hubert to a horrific crash in the F2 race, the Monegasque put that to one side and held off Lewis Hamilton to take the chequered flag at Spa-Francorchamps.
However, understandably, Leclerc wasn't in the mood to celebrate what is usually one of the greatest moments in a racing driver's career.
“My first victory in F1. This one is for Anthoine. It feels good, but difficult to enjoy a weekend like this," he said on the radio back to the pits.
In parc ferme, he added: “On one hand I’ve got a dream since a child that has been realised, but on the other hand, it has been a very difficult weekend since yesterday, we have lost a friend first of all but it is very difficult in these situations.
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“I would like to dedicate my first win to him. We have grown up together, my first ever race I have done it with Anthoine when we are younger and it is just a shame what happened yesterday.
“I can’t enjoy it fully my first victory but it will definitely be a memory I will keep forever.”
Leclerc led pretty much throughout Sunday's race, only falling behind teammate Sebastian Vettel for a handful of laps after his only pit-stop.
Yet despite Ferrari's advantage on the straights, the 21-year-old still only beat Hamilton across the finish line by just 0.9s.
“It’s been a very difficult race," he explained. "We’ve been struggling quite a bit with the tyres towards the end but I’m a lot happier than with what I managed in Budapest on my side.
“It was better but Mercedes was very quick in the race and we expected. But in the end, it’s a good weekend performance-wise with the pole position and my first victory, so for that, I’m satisfied.
“The end of the race was definitely not easy, he [Hamilton] was catching very quickly so I had a quite a bit of pressure but I’m happy I kept him behind.”
