Leclerc column: Barcelona win adds to perfect start in F2

As I see it, my second weekend in Formula 2 in Barcelona was actually a lot better than the one in Bahrain. Our victory in Bahrain was a lot down to the strategy, but in Barcelona, I believe we made a very big step forward.

Going into the season, I knew I had two aspects that I really needed to work on and improve – tyre degradation and reverse-grid racing, as I feel I wasn't good enough on Sundays in GP3 last year.

I tried to work out on my own what I could do to get better at it and my Prema team helped me a lot, and I think there's clear progress.

Topping free practice, taking pole, winning the Saturday race and doing well on Sunday - I'm not sure we could've gotten much more out of Barcelona.

Accidental upshift

Free practice, kicking off the weekend, yielded very strange results. Myself and Alex Albon were half a second clear of the pack, but my lap wasn't perfect and I don't think his was either. It didn't seem right and we knew we'd have a fight on our hands in qualifying.

Indeed, I wasn't ahead after the first run in the pole shoot-out, as I needed some set-up tweaks and my lap wasn't really good.

And starting my final flying lap, I made a mistake heading out of Turn 3 – I was in fourth gear and needed to shift up to fifth but, as I got a bit of oversteer, I accidentally changed to sixth instead. That cost me a tenth or two as the gear was too high for the speed of the car.

So I was really surprised to see that pole was ours at the end of the lap. The error had put us back, but the second and third sectors were good.

The Prema car is still very strong over one lap, and I believe qualifying pace is one of my strong suits as well.

I definitely need to get better all across the board but, if I had to choose between improving qualifying or races, it'd be races for sure.

Radio trouble

Going to the grid before the feature race, we noticed that the radio had developed a problem. I could speak to the engineers and they could hear me, but I could not hear them. That might sound like a small detail, but in F2, where you have pitstops and need to manage your pace, it's actually a rather big deal.

So on the grid we decided to change the strategy, going for option-prime instead of prime-option. The latter looked better on paper, but my engineer and I agreed that starting with a short first stint was the best way to avoid any sort of confusion that could cost us a lot of places.

Since we changed on the grid, we were expecting a tough start on colder tyres, but it worked out okay. Luca Ghiotto did have a go at overtaking me at Turn 4, but he went a little bit wide and I could cross over and remain ahead.

After I made my pitstop – which I felt was a couple of laps early, but we had no way of discussing it - the safety car came out.

The timing was helpful against the prime-option runners as I think it would've been very close between myself and Oliver Rowland at the end otherwise – but even like this, it was a hard race to see out.

We had no clean air and a lot of cars to overtake, to lose the least amount of time possible without destroying the tyres. But we managed it well.

26 points ahead

The start on Sunday wasn't great, but I was soon up to sixth behind Gustav Malja and Alex Albon, which is where I spent most of the race.

I knew we had a good pace so I tried to stay calm, putting a lot of pressure on Alex, and taking care of my tyres to be quick at the end of the race.

I got ahead of him eventually and then I went past Malja with a switch-back on the exit of Turn 5, which was a good move, although quite close between the rear of his car and my front wing.

The pace was still solid and I was even thinking about chasing the top three, especially when I saw Nicholas Latifi make a mistake. But in the end I had to do with fourth.

That leaves me 26 points in the lead of the standings after four races, which is not something I would've believed was possible heading into the year. We definitely couldn't have hoped for a better start and it's a good surprise, but the season is still long and we're under no illusion it's going to be easy.

In racing, you can go from hero to zero very quickly so I need to keep my feet on the ground and work as hard as possible – perhaps even harder than before. I still need to prove myself and be consistent.

When people expect a lot from you, that's when it's toughest, because if you're not doing as well as you did before, it looks bad.

Home race

Next up is my home race in Monaco, which will be very special and very intense. To race in front of my family and friends – probably some of my teachers, too – will be quite a strange feeling. There will be a lot of pressure, so I'll have to keep calm and not overdo it.

I've done a couple of sessions in the simulator and it's gone well, although the real thing is obviously very different.

But I'm hoping for a good result. I have only good memories from street circuits in the past. Pau, Macau - I've always had great results, so I'll work to make sure it's like this in Monaco as well.