Leclerc said the first stint was “a little bit messy” and he wants more information about Ferari’s tactics.

“With Seb I need to understand the full picture, see the full picture to speak with the engineers and understand the decision. I’m sure there’s an explanation behind this decision and I will understand it. Anyway, it’s past.

“It has not been a great race for me. Overall the weekend has not been as strong as I wanted driving in quali was OK but FP1, FP2, FP3 and also going in the race without any mileage on the high-fuel runs was not ideal. Overall today was not a good day but we’ll come back stronger.”

Leclerc ran long before his second stop and briefly delayed Valtteri Bottas, which he said was also a tactical decision by Ferrari.

“If you look at my own race I think obviously we [should] have pitted earlier. If you look at the [team’s] race I think they did the right thing trying to slow down the Mercedes for Seb to come back which I believe was the target.

“It didn’t work but it was the target so at least we tried and we will look forward now.”