So far, it hasn’t been the easiest weekend of the season for Charles Leclerc, who at Suzuka achieved his worst qualifying result in this early championship phase. A final eighth place that leaves many doubts, especially for the Monegasque, who struggles to explain why he struggled so much in qualifying, not so much in putting together the lap, but in turning it into a competitive time.
Already in the last session of the morning, some signs of difficulty in making that hoped-for step forward in the switch to soft tires were evident, so much so that even in Q3, the Red struggled to improve as much as other rivals compared to the second run. It’s no coincidence that, even during the same qualifying, Leclerc conducted many experiments on managing the out-lap, seeking a comparison between the various out-laps to understand how to improve and find a little more.
A problem that Ferrari seems to have been carrying since the early races of the season and that the drivers had already faced in previous events, but here at Suzuka, one of the most difficult and complex tracks of the season, this aspect can make the difference. The Red struggled noticeably in the first sector compared to rivals, despite still showing progress compared to last season, when the limits of the old SF-23 were even more pronounced.
In Q3, where he had only one attempt available having burned a second set of new tires already in Q1, Charles Leclerc was among the slowest in the first sector, placing himself ahead only of Tsunoda. Even Carlos Sainz showed some signs of difficulty compared to McLaren and Red Bull, but he was able to be more incisive than his teammate, building a treasure trove of two tenths that then proved useful to place himself on the second row on the starting grid.
“It’s one of those sessions that happen to you once a season, but it’s certainly not a good feeling. Everything seems fine to me, the balance isn’t wrong. Of course, we can always improve a little, as in every qualifying, but… Yes, if I rely on the feelings I had at the end of the lap, I honestly thought it was a good lap. Then I looked at the timing board and you’re a second away from the top,” Charles Leclerc said at the end of the qualifying session for the Japanese Grand Prix, emphasizing that the feelings in the car were still positive.
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The Monegasque specifically addressed the issue of outlap management as one of the possible causes of his poor performance in qualifying: “When this happens, usually more attention is paid to the tires and how they are brought up to temperature. Today I tried many different things, but it didn’t work. So, at the moment I don’t have an answer. The tire didn’t give me enough grip and we need to understand why. This year we’ve struggled a lot in the preparation lap. We tried everything, I chose the best preparation for Q3, I have no regrets, but today it was hard to do better.” – he pointed out.
“I don’t know if the wind has changed slightly. We’ll check the data. I don’t think from Q1 to Q3 it was a positive session. Actually, already on the first lap of Q1 I thought the feeling was quite good, usually when it’s like this the time comes. Today it went completely the opposite. So we have to do some checks,” added the Ferrari driver, emphasizing that he still lacks answers on what didn’t work best in this qualifying session, before mentioning the good race pace shown in the third free practice, surely among the best on the grid. However, there are still some doubts about the mappings used and the amount of fuel loaded.
“However, the positive aspect, if we really have to find one, is that our race pace seems better. But on a track like this, the position achieved in qualifying is extremely important. And today we didn’t do a good job. I just hope to have the opportunity to make some overtakes, because on a track like this, it will be very, very difficult to overtake.” – Charles Leclerc concluded at the end of the qualifying session for the Japanese Grand Prix in Suzuka.
