Charles Leclerc surprised on Saturday in Spa-Francorchamps with a strong third place in qualifying at the Grand Prix of Belgium. While teammate Lewis Hamilton left Q1 again, Leclerc brought the new suspension in Ferrari SF -25 – at least better than expected.
“I am very happy, even if it is only third,” said Leclerc right after the session.
“We didn’t expect to be so close. There are still three tenths behind, but that is less than feared.” According to Leclerc, Ferrari had scored fourth or worse in front of the weekend – at a greater distance from the top.
Leclerc leads the leap in performance primarily to good coordination work between Friday and Saturday: “We made small changes, nothing serious. But it was about bringing everything together. And we succeeded.”
The decisive factor for this was also the new rear wheel suspension, which Ferrari made in Belgium. Already in free training it was shown that the upgrade worked in principle. However, Leclerc emphasizes several times that the innovations can only be exploited bit by bit: “The upgrades bring something – but we talk about very fine differences over a whole round. It takes time to understand them completely.”
Team boss Frédéric Vasseur confirmed. The suspension worked as expected, but it is not yet completely optimized: “We took a step, but we are still missing a few tenths. We now have to perfect every small detail – because it is about hundredths and thousandth.”
Video: F1 analysis: “Hamilton in the shadow of Leclerc”
Weather worries Ferrari
Ferrari not only worries the competition, but also the weather: rain is possible for the race on Sunday. The team relies on a low-downforce set-up in SPA that brings great advantages in dry terms, but could mean disadvantages in the corners in the wet. Vasseur sees it sporty: “It is good to learn under all conditions. It was important to bring the upgrade now – even if you suffer a bit at the beginning.”
Leclerc expresses itself more carefully: “I had a good feeling in dry today. But whether we Max [Verstappen] I don’t know. “The Red Bull Pilot starts fourth behind the Monegassen, but is different from Ferrari with more output and could not be beaten for Ferrari, especially in wet conditions.
McLaren remains the yardstick
Although Ferrari has made progress with the update, McLaren remains the clear reference for the time being. Both Oscar Piatri and Lando Norris were in qualifying in front of Leclerc. Particularly bitter for Ferrari: McLaren also brought new parts to Spa – and also took a step.
“We are probably three or four tenths behind McLaren in qualification,” said Leclerc. “The upgrade will help us get closer. But it is not enough to make it consistently challenged.”
Leclerc also positively evaluates that he has had a good grip on the car since the first training session. In the first half of the season, he often used extreme set-up changes to find the right balance. “Now I was quite constant right from the start. Of course, that helps to get the maximum out of the car – especially in qualifying.”
At the same time, he relativizes: “The grip here in spa is generally very high. That helps everyone. We have to wait and see whether progress also shows itself on other routes.”