Leclerc: Qatar conditions “on the limit” | “Hardest race of our careers”

Several drivers up and down the grid struggled with the heat, with Williams’ Logan Sargeant retiring mid-way through the race due to dehydration.

Esteban Ocon revealed he had vomited on Lap 15 of the race, while Lance Stroll said he was “passing out” and his vision was blurred.

While Leclerc didn’t experience such severe symptoms, he labelled the 57-lap grand prix as the “hardest race” of his career.

“It was the hardest race of our careers, for every single driver,” he said. “The heat? I think there were definitely lots of things that added up.

“On its own, it would’ve been the hardest race just because of the heat - the heat was absolutely crazy. 

• The F1 driver that was “passing out” and had “blurred” vision in Qatar GP

“Second - we’ve got a lot of high speed corners. Third - which I think is the most important thing - is adding three stops. We were all speaking about tyres. That it would have been a push for tyres with management. 

“We underestimated that it meant we are under so much more stress in the high-speed corners which is normally not the case. It’s difficult to put into words how difficult that was. Twice more difficult than Singapore. It was really on the limit. 

“We can do that, we are prepared for this, but it starts to get on the limit for some drivers so we need to be careful.”

Leclerc finished fifth, well behind the leading quartet.

Reflecting on the result, he added: “McLaren are strong, very strong,” he added. “We expected them to be strong but not as strong as what we’ve seen this weekend. We also expect to be much closer at some of the tracks before the end of the year, so it’s not time to give up. They are getting closer. We need to keep pushing. 

“There will be races where we’re more in the game, others where we struggle with high speed corners. We know where our weakness is.”