“It wasn’t a big deal,” says Charles Leclerc of his Ferrari team’s tire chaos in Q3 in Belgium’s Formula 1 qualifying session, when his team accidentally put on the wrong tires for the Monegasque.
During his first run in the final stages of qualifying, Ferrari fitted a set of fresh soft tires to Leclerc’s car. The team had originally planned to send him out on used soft tires for the first run before fitting Leclerc with a fresh set for the final Q3 attempt.
Leclerc asked about the tire choice over the radio and was informed by the team: “Sorry, that was a mistake.” He ended the session in fourth, eight tenths of a second behind the best time set by Max Verstappen, who, like Leclerc, also did not drive a second lap in Q3.
“I think there was a misunderstanding, but it wasn’t a big deal,” said Leclerc after qualifying. “Of course I mentioned it because I was a bit surprised. It doesn’t change anything for the rest of the weekend anyway.”
When asked if he was frustrated by another small mistake by Ferrari this year, Leclerc simply replied: “No.”
Verstappen was six tenths of a second ahead of Sainz
The Monegasque will start the race from 16th on the grid after serving a penalty for swapping engine parts, which will see him start one place behind title rival Verstappen, who also swapped engine parts.
Verstappen finished with his best time six tenths of a second ahead of second fastest Carlos Sainz in the Ferrari, which shows how strong the Dutchman is in combination with his RB18 in Belgium.
Leclerc felt Red Bull had been “extremely strong” during the Spa weekend so far and that Verstappen’s pace “is a surprise. I think we expected to close the gap a little more in qualifying,” the Ferrari mused -Pilot.
“They found something this weekend that’s pretty impressive,” he adds. “It’s a big gap. So I hope that will change in Zandvoort. But before that we still have the race tomorrow, so we seem to be a bit more competitive. Let’s see how it goes.”
Leclerc wants to get on the podium
Mercedes driver George Russell, on the other hand, reckons that Verstappen will have a good chance of winning from 15th on the grid and the Dutchman himself said he would be disappointed if he didn’t make it onto the podium.
“I would also be disappointed if I didn’t get on the podium,” says Leclerc. “But considering he’s with me and if he has the pace today, it will be very difficult for me to get back on the podium.”
“But yeah, you never know. A good first stint, a clean race and I’m sure we can get back to the top,” said the Ferrari driver confidently.