'We got a little unlucky' – Leclerc laments Safety Car timing after P3 finish in Japanese GP

Charles Leclerc believes "we got a little unlucky" during the Japanese Grand Prix due to an ill-timed Safety Car, with the Ferrari driver salvaging third place.

Leclerc took his second Grand Prix rostrum of the season in Sunday's 53-lap race at the Suzuka Circuit, having jumped both Mercedes drivers on the front row at the start from fourth on the grid.

After losing a spot to Mercedes' George Russell in the opening laps, Leclerc made an early pit stop to cover off McLaren's Lando Norris behind but found himself fifth following a mid-race Safety Car.

The caution allowed team mate Lewis Hamilton and the second Mercedes of Kimi Antonelli to pit and rejoin in front, before overtakes on Russell and then Hamilton moved Leclerc up to P3 at the chequered flag.

"It was a bit of a sweaty one this one. Obviously with the Safety Car we got a little unlucky so from that moment onwards I knew that I was a little bit on the back foot, especially compared to Kimi and Lewis," said Leclerc, who finished behind McLaren's Oscar Piastri and race winner Antonelli.

"But then I was like, let's keep pushing, let's try and keep those tyres and bring them to the end and actually it wasn't that much of a disadvantage as I thought.

"The tyres were actually pretty good, the few laps that I had done wasn't so bad, it was just that we lost a few positions and then it was quite a fun race. Just not quite enough to get Oscar but it was a cool race.

"I'm quite pleased. Of course I'm not over the moon because it's only a P3 but considering everything, we've been quite unlucky with the Safety Car."

Team mate Hamilton had briefly moved into P3 at the Safety Car restart after demoting Russell, but soon slumped to P6 behind Leclerc, Russell and Norris, admitting he wasn't surprised after struggling for pace.

"Not surprised. I was struggling with power all race, so no, not particularly [surprised]. Need to go through it with a fine comb," he said.

"Pretty terrible weekend in general to get a result like that. But there are some points there so we take them."