Leclerc had no idea Ferrari had pace to snatch Mexico pole

Charles Leclerc admits he had no idea that Ferrari had the potential to take pole position even starting Q3 at the Mexico City Grand Prix. Success on Saturday in Mexico makes it two pole positions in a row for Leclerc who was also fastest in Austin …

Charles Leclerc admits he had no idea that Ferrari had the potential to take pole position even starting Q3 at the Mexico City Grand Prix.

Success on Saturday in Mexico makes it two pole positions in a row for Leclerc who was also fastest in Austin last weekend, although he faded in the race to finish sixth before a post-race disqualification. On that occasion, Leclerc had looked quick from early in the session but Ferrari’s Q3 pace at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez came as a surprise.

“It’s a really big surprise but we keep saying that every time we get a pole position so people will stop believing what we say!” he joked. “I did not expect it…until really late in the session. I think in other sessions in Q1 we were on it and then we saw we had the potential for pole position, but today, until Q3, we had no idea that it was inside the car.

“For some reason in Q3 I managed to put more or less everything together apart from the last sector and the lap time came straight away. Then I was a bit surprised, but I think it still shows us that our car is still a bit peaky and we need to work in that direction to make it better in all conditions.”

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With the front row often at risk from the cars directly behind due to the slipstream effect on the long run to Turn 1, Leclerc believes he has the ability to fight for victory if he retains the lead off the line. However, both he and teammate Carlos Sainz are wary of overcomplicating the start with pre-agreed plans.

“Well I hope so. It’s a very difficult race; everything can happen, especially with the cooling where whichever car is behind will really need more management,” he said. “It can work in our favor, but for that we will need to get a good start, and starting first here is always tricky to keep that position into the first corner. We have had pretty good starts this year so I am confident that we can keep that first place into Turn 1 and then we will try and do our best race.

“To be honest, we haven’t discussed yet and we will discuss about it, but at the same time it is very difficult to predict what is going to happen. It is basically a result of how good a start we will have and then we’ll adapt. Obviously we won’t take too many risks between the cars, but apart from that it’s difficult to plan what’s happening at the start. It depends if I have a good start, if I have a bad start, so it’s difficult to plan.”

Leclerc leads shock Ferrari lockout after eventful Mexico GP qualy

Charles Leclerc and Scuderia Ferrari conjured a shock front-row lockout after an unpredictable qualifying hour at the Mexico City Grand Prix. Leclerc beat teammate Carlos Sainz by 0.067s despite a difficult build-up to qualifying that saw the team …

Charles Leclerc and Scuderia Ferrari conjured a shock front-row lockout after an unpredictable qualifying hour at the Mexico City Grand Prix.

Leclerc beat teammate Carlos Sainz by 0.067s despite a difficult build-up to qualifying that saw the team off the pace during practice and both flirting with elimination in Q2.

Both drivers needed only their first laps of the session to secure the front row. Track conditions appeared to peak just as the red cars took their first set of fresh softs, and neither was able to improve with their second runs.

It appeared to open the door to Max Verstappen, a close third, to pinch the position, and a purple middle sector appeared to signify the seeming inevitable, but the Dutchman fell short by 0.097s, confirming the unlikely Ferrari front row.

“To be honest, I did not expect to be on pole position today,” Leclerc said. “For some reason when we put everything together we went well. On new tires we found a lot.”

Sainz said the performance was “very strange” and that his P2 lap was the first one he put together all weekend, but he was optimistic having two cars on the front row could open the door to a strategic victory.

“We are not as strong in high fuel as we are on low fuel,” he said. “We’re going to see what we can do tomorrow to keep those tires alive, to keep that Red Bull behind.

“Having two cars in front is a good advantage, so we’re going to try out best.”

Verstappen blamed his loss of pole on pushing too hard in the low-grip conditions, but the Dutchman was unconcerned about the battle for victory.

“It’s a very long race,” he said. “Of course I would’ve liked to start first, but we’ll have a good slipstream into Turn 1.”

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Verstappen, however, is facing a post-session investigation for blocking pit lane exit, a similar offense to that which earned him a reprimand in Singapore — though stewards said afterwards it should have earned a harsher punishment.

The driver with the most to gain from a potential penalty is Daniel Ricciardo, who was superb to qualify fourth for AlphaTauri. The Australian was just 0.216s short of battling for pole in his fourth Q3 session of the season and second since his comeback from a broken hand. He beat Red Bull Racing’s Sergio Perez, who mustered fifth for his home race ahead of Lewis Hamilton, Oscar Piastri, George Russell and Alfa Romeo teammates Valtteri Bottas and Zhou Guanyu.

Along with Verstappen, three other top-10 drivers are under stewards investigations on Saturday evening: George Russell is also being looked into for blocking the pit lane exit attempting to find a gap in traffic; Russell, Lando Norris and Zhou are accused of lapping too slowly on their out-laps; and Hamilton is alleged to have failed to slow under yellow flags.

Pierre Gasly will start 11th ahead of Nico Hulkenberg and Fernando Alonso, whose Aston Martin has looked out of shape all weekend.

Alex Albon was knocked out 14th after having a Q3-worthy time deleted shortly after the end of the segment for cutting Turn 2, promoting Zhou into the top 10.

Yuki Tsunoda qualified 15th but will be demoted to last on the grid with penalties for exceeding his power unit and gearbox penalties. Esteban Ocon qualified 16th ahead of Kevin Magnussen and Lance Stroll.

Norris, who had been expected to contend for the front row, found himself knocked out 19th and last of those who set a time. McLaren sent the Briton out for his first run on medium tires but aborted the run in anticipation of a stint on softs at the end of the session.

Norris was sent out with fuel and time to complete two laps as a precaution, but he spoiled his first time with a slide through the stadium section, leaving him in the knockout zone. His last-gasp lap was then undermined by Fernando Alonso spinning at Turn 3, bringing out yellow flags, forcing the McLaren driver to abandon his lap and accept 19th in the order.

Logan Sargeant qualified last without a time set, having had all his laps deleted for exceeding track limits and then getting caught in traffic at the end of Q1.

Ferrari gave Leclerc a ‘heart attack’ with radio message about pole

Charles Leclerc says he “had a heart attack” as a result of a Ferrari team radio message about track limits at the end of qualifying for the United States Grand Prix. The opening runs in Q3 saw Leclerc on provisional pole position, improving on his …

Charles Leclerc says he “had a heart attack” as a result of a Ferrari team radio message about track limits at the end of qualifying for the United States Grand Prix.

The opening runs in Q3 saw Leclerc on provisional pole position, improving on his final attempt before Max Verstappen just beat him by 0.005s. Verstappen’s time was then deleted for exceeding track limits at Turn 19, but Leclerc admits he was left believing he had lost his best time for a moment with the way the news was relayed to him.

“I just had a heart attack because my engineer told me, ‘Track limits,’ and then, ‘For Verstappen,’” Leclerc said. “And when I heard ‘track limits,’ I punched the steering wheels and my helmet, and then I heard ‘for Verstappen’ and then I was, ‘OK, that’s better news for us!’

“That’s why in the moment, I just said to Xavi (Marcos Padros, race engineer) please tell me the name before the track limits, just so I don’t get too excited.”

The news meant Leclerc was on pole from Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton at the end of a close session, and he attributes his third pole in a Sprint weekend this season to how well Ferrari hits the ground running.

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“The car was really good and I think this is our biggest strength when we get to a weekend like this,” the Monegasque said. “It’s a Sprint weekend — FP1, every lap counts, and it’s very important to be starting with a strong base setup of the car. That’s exactly what we did, so from the first lap I built up the confidence with the car and I felt good straight away.

“In qualifying I tried to put everything together. The first lap in Q3 felt quite a bit better than the second lap but I think there was a bit of track improvement, and the second lap was good enough for pole — even though on track we got beaten by Max, but his lap time was deleted later on — but I’m very happy to be on pole. It’s a surprise for us; We definitely did not expect to be fighting for pole position.”

Leclerc believes the track characteristics helped Ferrari negate a weakness of its car on Friday, but also points to overall progress in recent races as a sign of improving consistency.

“It’s very bumpy here and the car definitely felt good on bumps today, which gives you quite a bit of confidence to push in all the high speed,” he said. “That’s normally our weakness, but maybe because our car was good on those bumps we could at least match the others. And then our car was strong in the medium and low speed. Again, it’s very difficult to understand where you are going to be going into a weekend, but for some reason this weekend we are strongest…up until now, which is good.

“It’s a good sign. I think we have learned a massive amount since the start of the second part of the season. We haven’t brought massive upgrades since then, but we have learned how to maximize our car and that helped us to be a bit more regularly at our 100 percent, and today is once again the proof, so it’s a good sign for the future.”

Leclerc pips Norris to pole in super-tight USGP qualifying at COTA

Charles Leclerc beat Lando Norris to pole position for Sunday’s United States Grand Prix after Max Verstappen had his fastest time deleted for exceeding track limits. Red Bull Racing’s pace advantage was reduced by the mixed demands of Circuit of …

Charles Leclerc beat Lando Norris to pole position for Sunday’s United States Grand Prix after Max Verstappen had his fastest time deleted for exceeding track limits.

Red Bull Racing’s pace advantage was reduced by the mixed demands of Circuit of The Americas and its rapidly evolving grip levels, turning the battle for pole into a genuine four-way contest between Verstappen, Leclerc, Norris and Lewis Hamilton.

Leclerc took provisional pole at the end of the first laps, in part thanks to Verstappen arriving at the last corner immediately behind teammate Sergio Perez, understeering through the left-hander in the Mexican’s dirty air.

The Dutchman was furious over team radio, with his shot at pole relying on his final lap.

Nearing the end, Leclerc was again quickest, improving his time as the first of the contenders over the line.

Verstappen started the lap badly, with a lockup at Turn 1 that sent him wide, but a phenomenal final sector more than made up for the lost time, sending him 0.005s ahead of the leading Ferrari.

That purple final split included a clear wide exit at Turn 19, and he had his timed deleted shortly after crossing the line, dumping the 2023 world champion to a disappointed sixth and handing pole back to Leclerc — the Monegasque’s second Sunday P1 start of the year.

“I think as a team we did a great job,” Leclerc said. “We know [on sprint weekends] it’s more important than ever to have a clean FP1. We did.

“I was feeling good on the lap. I was happy throughout qualifying.

“The last lap in Q3, there were [some] mistakes here and there, but I think it wasn’t easy for anybody.

“I’m really happy to be starting from pole on Sunday.”

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Norris was an unexpected second and just 0.13s off pole, the McLaren driver having forecast a more difficult weekend for his car ahead of the session.

“I’m happy; It’s been a good day,” he said. “It was probably not expected, so a good bonus for the whole team.

“I think we had it today. There was enough in it to get pole. A bit of a shame that one opportunity maybe missed again, but I’m happy nonetheless.”

Lewis Hamilton was just 0.009s behind Norris for Mercedes in his upgraded W14, making it three different manufacturers inside the top three.

“I have to say a big thank you to everyone back at the factory,” he said. “They’ve been pushing so hard to improve our car.

“We have taken a bit of a step closer to these guys this weekend.

“Unfortunately they’re just a little bit ahead but we’ll give it another shot tomorrow [in the sprint].”

Carlos Sainz and George Russell were 0.2s and 0.3s off pole in fourth and fifth but ahead of the error-prone Verstappen in sixth.

Alpine teammates Pierre Gasly and Esteban Ocon were split by 0.065s in seventh and eighth ahead of Sergio Perez, who was 0.45s off pole, and Oscar Piastri, for whom a mistake in the middle sector confined him to 10th.

Yuki Tsunoda led the way for AlphaTauri in his upgraded AT04, missing out on the pole shootout by just 0.018s.

Alfa Romeo teammates Zhou Guanyu were 12th and 13th.

Haas teammates Kevin Magnussen and Nico Hulkenberg validated the massive overhaul of the Haas car this weekend with 14th and 16th respectively, though the German lost a better lap after exceeding track limits.

Daniel Ricciardo was sandwiched between them in 15th, the Australian 0.277s behind teammate Tsunoda on his first race back from injury.

Fernando Alonso was the shock Q1 elimination. Despite never having qualified lower than 10th for a grand prix this season, the Spaniard said he extracted the maximum from his upgraded Aston Martin on his way to 17th on the grid and 1.177s off the pace of the session.

Alex Albon qualified 18th ahead of Lance Stroll in the second Aston, the Canadian severely hamstrung by reliability issues during first practice that restricted him to five slow laps.

American rookie Logan Sargeant will prop up the grid from 20th.

Ferrari to bring upgrades to Japanese Grand Prix after Singapore win

Ferrari isn’t looking to cool off after its Singapore Grand Prix win.

[autotag]Scuderia Ferrari[/autotag] may have been the first team outside of Red Bull racing to win a race in 2023, but they don’t seem satisfied with stopping there.

Italian publication FORMU1A.UNO reported Tuesday that the Prancing Horse will be set to upgrade their floor for the upcoming Formula 1 Japanese Grand Prix at Suzuka Circuit. According to the report, the new floor was tested and approved in the team’s wind tunnel before the summer break.

While the 2024 F1 season is now closer than the start of 2023’s was, new upgrades can generally help teams understand the upgrade path for next year’s car. With this floor upgrade, Ferrari is likely getting a better understanding of the direction it wants to go for next year’s challenger — according to the report, the team’s car concept has already radically changed from the beginning of the year.

So far in 2023, Ferrari sits in third place with 265 points in the constructors championship. The team remains in a close battle with Mercedes, who has 289, and will likely try to edge them out in the coming races with their new upgrades. The team won its first race of the 2023 season when driver Carlos Sainz took the win in Singapore on Sunday after qualifying on pole the previous day.

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Ferrari fans can dream, but Red Bull still fastest – Sainz

Carlos Sainz says Ferrari fans can dream but the reality is Red Bull remains the quickest car despite the Spaniard setting the pace in FP2 at the Italian Grand Prix. Max Verstappen complained of traffic on his fastest lap in practice while Sergio …

Carlos Sainz says Ferrari fans can dream but the reality is Red Bull remains the quickest car despite the Spaniard setting the pace in FP2 at the Italian Grand Prix.

Max Verstappen complained of traffic on his fastest lap in practice while Sergio Perez crashed later on in the session, but it was Sainz who was quickest on his birthday on Friday. Topping the times at Ferrari’s home race in Monza is something Sainz says made for as good a day as he could have asked for, but admits he isn’t sure why the car felt so much better than a week ago at Zandvoort.

“Cannot get much better than that,” Sainz said. “It was a smooth day to be honest. Great to be back on a track like Monza, and from the first lap of FP1 to feel the car normal again after such a difficult weekend in Zandvoort. As soon as we put the car on track here, for some reason, it just adapted a lot better and it was a lot easier to set up and drive it per corner.

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“We had a smooth day. It doesn’t mean that we are going to be P1 tomorrow and in the race, but at least the feeling is much better.

“I didn’t skip FP1 so I could…have a better feeling! Then in FP2 we had smooth running despite a couple of red flags… It’s the same car, basically, but for some reason it just felt a lot better, which is what puzzles me more. Let’s see tomorrow. I think everyone is going to go lower fuel tomorrow, higher engine modes and it’s going to be a bit of a different picture, but at least the feeling is decent.”

When pushed on whether Ferrari fans can dream of pole position and victory at the team’s home race, Sainz was optimistic but says the long runs showed Red Bull to have a clear advantage still ahead of Sunday.

“Yeah, dreaming is for free — this is one of my favorite sayings to say. Especially on tracks like this, I think we can all dream… No one takes it away from us. But being realistic, also looking at our race pace, that’s when we started seeing the true pace of the Red Bull. They were clearly again 0.3s-0.5s ahead in race pace, and over 50-something laps that’s a lot of lap time.”

Ferrari ‘pushing like I’ve never seen before’ with upgrades – Leclerc

Charles Leclerc says Scuderia Ferrari has been pushing like he’s “never seen before” to improve its car and was rewarded with second place in the Austrian Grand Prix. Leclerc missed out on pole position by just 0.048s on Friday, but endured a tough …

Charles Leclerc says Scuderia Ferrari has been pushing like he’s “never seen before” to improve its car and was rewarded with second place in the Austrian Grand Prix.

Leclerc missed out on pole position by just 0.048s on Friday, but endured a tough Sprint after struggling in wet conditions at the Red Bull Ring. In the main race, however, Leclerc led a number of laps due to Ferrari’s strategy of stopping during an early Virtual Safety Car and he says the car is feeling much improved even if there is a long way to go to catch Max Verstappen and Red Bull.

“It feels good to be back on the podium, especially after what was a very difficult day yesterday,” Leclerc said. “I had a really good feeling in the car on Friday. I think with the new upgrades, the feeling is getting there, and we were really waiting for this race in order to confirm the good feelings that we had on Friday, and it worked out.

“No secrets, we need to still work extremely hard to catch Red Bull, (who) are still quite a lot faster come race day. But the feeling is better, and the team is pushing like I’ve never seen before in terms of bringing the upgrades much earlier than what was planned. This is great to see.”

Despite securing his best result of the season so far, Leclerc also believes his Ferrari wasn’t perfectly set-up for Sunday’s race and has more to come.

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“Overall, we had a more consistent car today, which was good to see,” he said. “I feel like maybe with these sprint weekends, it’s a bit more unpredictable, less preparation you have, and maybe I was a bit out of the window in terms of setup for this race. I had the rear stepping out a bit too much, and struggling with rear degradation. But on the second and last stint, it was a little bit better as I modified my driving. Maybe we left a bit more of performance there.”

While the Monegasque has fought hard with Verstappen in the past — including at the Red Bull Ring — Leclerc says he didn’t try too hard to keep him behind while leading as they approached the halfway point in the race, given the pace differential between the two cars.

“At that point I knew it was a matter of time. Max had much fresher tires. They are also quicker whenever we have the same tires, so it’s not like I tried to push like crazy. I knew it was crucial to lose as little time as possible in this battle, and this is why I haven’t been as aggressive as I’ve been in other times when we were fighting for real positions whereas this one was a bit difficult.

“If he wouldn’t have overtaken me into Turn 4, it was the lap after, and I would have lost more time for my race, so it wouldn’t have benefitted me in any way.”

Leclerc frustrated by being ignored by Ferrari pitwall in Canada

Charles Leclerc admits he is frustrated that Ferrari did not listen to him when he told the team he wanted slick tires during qualifying at the Canadian Grand Prix. At the start of Q2 the circuit was drying out but teams were awaiting more rain that …

Charles Leclerc admits he is frustrated that Ferrari did not listen to him when he told the team he wanted slick tires during qualifying at the Canadian Grand Prix.

At the start of Q2 the circuit was drying out but teams were awaiting more rain that was in the vicinity, so the majority of cars went out on intermediate tires. Alex Albon was the only car on slicks but Lando Norris had already told McLaren the dry tire was the right compound, and Leclerc concurred and asked to pit to make a change but was told by Ferrari to stay out and set a time on intermediates, ultimately failing to advance to Q3 after missing the dry tire window.

“I called for slicks on the out lap, it was clearly for slicks,” Leclerc said. “The car was dry. I think Alex did that and went earlier than everybody on the slicks. That was clearly the right choice; there was no risks taken…whatsoever. But for some reason, the team decided otherwise.

“I think we are just making our life way too difficult in those situations. I had a clear opinion. We decided to do something else. I am frustrated. Having said that, other drivers did the same strategy as us and went through to Q3. You are just relying on small details instead of an easy Q2 — going through when the track is dry, you need slick tires. I don’t know what happened.”

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Leclerc had told Ferrari he wanted slicks but then asked if he was pitting or the team wanted him to stay out, but he believes he made his feelings known effectively.

“I think there was no clearer way of me expressing myself this time. I will speak internally with the team and try to understand what we can do. It’s obviously not the first time in those situations that we are on the wrong side.

“I don’t want to comment on it too much. But we have to be better than that; we can’t afford to do those mistakes again. I will speak with the team.

“I clearly said my opinion, more than that I can’t really do. I have no idea what lap times Alex is doing in terms of the slicks. Maybe he is 5s off, I don’t know. I had a clear opinion, obviously Alex was fast. I have to understand what was the target in doing that, what was the aim. The track was dry.”

Leclerc is set to start the race from 10th place after teammate Carlos Sainz was penalized for impeding Pierre Gasly in Q1, demoting the other Ferrari to 11th.

Sainz hit with Canada grid penalty for impeding furious Gasly

Carlos Sainz has been handed a three-place grid penalty for impeding Pierre Gasly in qualifying for the Canadian Grand Prix, with the Frenchman branding it “completely unacceptable.” Gasly was on a flying lap approaching the final chicane in wet …

Carlos Sainz has been handed a three-place grid penalty for impeding Pierre Gasly in qualifying for the Canadian Grand Prix, with the Frenchman branding it “completely unacceptable.”

Gasly was on a flying lap approaching the final chicane in wet conditions when Sainz — going slowly before starting his own attempt — was overtaken by Yuki Tsunoda. That left the Ferrari driver in the middle of the track and Gasly had to take evasive action before cutting the chicane, dropping out in Q1 as a result.

“Just think it’s completely unacceptable to be driving the way Carlos did… it’s as simple as that,” Gasly said. “Coming at 300kph, he’s sitting 30kph in the last chicane just focusing on his own lap but you’re not alone on the race track.

“First of all, I could not even close the lap — that would have put us in the top six easily — and second of all it was extremely dangerous and unnecessary, so just absolutely gutted.

“Definitely (should be a penalty) but it’s not even what I care about as the damage has been done. I’m sitting here in P17 when we have the pace to be in the top 10, 8 or even 6 in these conditions, so whatever they decide… OK, it’s gonna damage him but it’s not going to give us back the qualifying we should have had.

“Gutted. I was in the opposite situation the other day but the guys finished P1 and P2 and it didn’t impact their Sunday, now I’m sitting here in P17, ruined my qualifying, and impacts my race a lot, so it’s just unacceptable.”

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The stewards agreed that Sainz needed to be penalized, saying they felt the Spaniard had triggered the situation prior to Tsunoda’s overtaking move.

“The driver of Car 55 (Sainz) stated that he was surprised that the driver of Car 22 (Tsunoda) overtook him into Turn 13 and as a result he accelerated late to start his fast lap,” the decision read. “The driver of Car 10 (Gasly) stated that the driver of Car 55 could have and should have ‘gone earlier.’

“Telemetry showed a significant speed differential between Cars 55 and 10 … Although the overtaking move by Car 22 took the driver of Car 55 by surprise, it is our determination that the driver of Car 55 was predominantly to blame and unnecessarily impeded Car 10.”

Demoting Sainz three places drops him to 11th place on the grid for Sunday’s race, promoting Oscar Piastri, Alex Albon and Charles Leclerc one position each.

‘Definitely something strange’ with car in Leclerc’s P19 qualifying effort

Charles Leclerc is confident Ferrari will find a problem with his car after dropping out in the first part of qualifying for the Spanish Grand Prix. On a damp but largely dry track, Leclerc was struggling throughout Q1 and was unable to progress …

Charles Leclerc is confident Ferrari will find a problem with his car after dropping out in the first part of qualifying for the Spanish Grand Prix.

On a damp but largely dry track, Leclerc was struggling throughout Q1 and was unable to progress despite using two new sets of soft tires to try and get out of trouble. After his first run, the Ferrari driver had told the team there was something wrong with the rear of his car, and although nothing was identified on the data at the time, Leclerc is still sure a source to his woes will be found before he lines up on the back row on Sunday.

“I don’t have the answer right now. We will have to check the data and most of all check the car because there was definitely something strange,” Leclerc said. “I nearly lost it during the red flag and I was at 70 km/h and there was just no warning.

“The left-hand corners were really, really bad with the rear right and I first thought it was the tires, so we went with a new set of tires and on the new set of tires it was the same feeling – right-hand corners really good, left-hand corners completely off. We will have to check, but I would be very surprised if we don’t find something on the car.”

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Leclerc says there were some changes made after FP3 but doesn’t believe they had an impact, nor does he blame being called to the weighbridge late in Q1 as contributing to his early exit.

“A tiny bit (was changed before qualifying), but as you always do. This is not the reason. It was not a setup thing. The setup was just a slight change and this was way too much of a difference from the left-hand corners to the right-hand.

“To be honest I don’t think (the weighbridge) would have made it any better. We were just completely slow and I was not even that surprised when they told me I was out of Q1.”

Starting 19th, the Monegasque is also unsure how much progress he’ll be able to make in the race, despite his teammate Carlos Sainz securing a spot on the front row.

“It’s going to be an uphill weekend, to be honest. On the other hand, it’s a track where we will see quite a few stops — degradation is going to be a big thing tomorrow — so if we do a good job on that we are going to improve our chances.

“For tire deg yesterday our race pace looked a little bit better than normal, apart from Red Bull which is in a league of their own. But let’s wait and see for tomorrow, because yesterday we didn’t know the fuel level of everybody, so it is very difficult to compare.”