Charles Leclerc says he was stunned to set the second quickest time in qualifying on the Belgian Grand Prix as his lap didn’t really feel significantly sturdy.
Max Verstappen was comfortably quickest in a moist qualifying session at Spa-Francorchamps, however Leclerc’s remaining lap in Q3 earned him second within the classification, that means he’ll begin from pole place because of Verstappen’s 10-place grid penalty. Leclerc says he was aiming for a prime 5 consequence heading into qualifying given Ferrari’s latest kind, and he had not anticipated his lap to be adequate to beat the remainder of the sector.
“I’m very stunned,” Leclerc stated. “Truly, even after I completed the lap, I didn’t really feel prefer it was value a second place. I imply, it was an excellent lap, a clear lap, and that’s what you want in these situations. I consider that particularly if you get to Q3 within the final lap, everyone is aware of that that is the lap, and that pushes folks to perhaps do extra errors.
“On my facet, it was a clear lap, however not an unbelievable lap, so I’m very blissful to be P2. I positively didn’t count on that. I feel as a staff, right this moment, P5 would have been a little bit of an excellent consequence, and right this moment we’re P2 and tomorrow we can be beginning on pole. That’s an excellent factor, however as I stated, we don’t have any magical resolution for the race tempo and it will likely be a little bit of a tough day tomorrow.”
Leclerc was one of many few drivers to enhance with their final runs in Q3, and he says tire preparation was central to that bounce up the order to beat Sergio Perez to second.
“We didn’t change the stability that a lot from Q1 to Q3. I feel the place we improved fairly a bit was to place the tires in the correct window. That was tremendous necessary, and in these situations that’s all the time the place you wrestle.
“We did some modifications particularly on the out lap and the way a lot you push and the place you push. Then I felt extra comfy, and that helped me for Q3. It was all about superb tuning the out lap and placing the tires in the correct window.”
Whereas the Monegasque believes Ferrari’s race tempo might be a trigger for concern primarily based on the struggles it has confronted over the previous 4 rounds, he says he’ll merely give attention to making an attempt to maintain Perez at bay firstly earlier than seeing how the long term efficiency pans out.
“It’s going to be a tough race for us. It is going to be dry situations, and in dry situations, lately, we’ve been struggling a little bit bit extra. Nevertheless, the McLaren is a bit additional away than what we needed. There’s Checo proper behind. That would be the most important goal, after which we’ll see the way it goes after the primary stint.
“Nevertheless it’s an excellent beginning place. It’s additionally a observe the place you’ll be able to overtake fairly simply, so we’ll want the tempo. We’ll solely have the reply tomorrow.”
