Charles Leclerc secured third position in qualifying for the Belgian Grand Prix and is hopeful of achieving a podium finish tomorrow despite having Max Verstappen starting right behind him. Here are his comments on the session.
Charles Leclerc will start tomorrow’s Belgian Grand Prix from the third spot on the grid, ahead of reigning world champion Max Verstappen. The Ferrari driver aims to capitalize on this strong qualifying performance to try and secure another podium finish for Scuderia Ferrari.
The recent qualifying session delivered a spectacle similar to what we witnessed during Friday’s Shootout qualifying format. Notably, Lewis Hamilton and Kimi Antonelli were once again eliminated early in Q1, unable to advance to the later stages.
However, the session also featured some important changes in the running order. For instance, George Russell managed to reach Q3 and ultimately qualified in fifth place. Meanwhile, Charles Leclerc, car number 16 for the Italian Scuderia Ferrari team, achieved a solid third place on the grid, positioning himself ahead of the Sprint race winner.
The Monegasque driver revealed that he and his team made several small but significant modifications to the car setup in preparation for today’s qualifying and tomorrow’s race. Although starting on the second row, Charles Leclerc expressed satisfaction with his lap time and the overall feel of the car during qualifying.
Charles Leclerc’s Statements
When first asked if he had expected to qualify third today, Charles Leclerc admitted to being somewhat surprised by the result.
“Well, not exactly. I’m very happy today. It’s strange to say that because we’re still three tenths of a second behind the leader, and it’s only a third place, but I really didn’t expect it,” stated the 27-year-old Ferrari driver. “I think we thought we would be much further back. We knew we had some extra performance in the car thanks to the updates we brought, but yesterday we struggled quite a bit, whereas today I managed a really, really good lap.”
“I’m very pleased with my lap and the feelings the car gave me, so it was great to put everything together well for qualifying,” the Monegasque driver added.
When asked whether the improvement was due to the new upgrades or if they had altered the setup to improve race pace, Charles Leclerc explained:
“No, obviously it takes some time to fully exploit the upgrades we brought to the car. So there were a few things we changed, but nothing major. We put everything together and that was the key,” he added. “I felt much more comfortable in the car compared to Free Practice One. It’s nice in these qualifying sessions when you can look back and know you didn’t leave anything on the table.”
Finally, he was asked if he will target a podium finish tomorrow despite having Max Verstappen behind him on the grid. Charles Leclerc responded: “I don’t know yet. Honestly, their race pace looked very strong this morning. I wasn’t able to keep up with their rhythm.”
“However, we made some small changes and I hope these will give us an advantage in tomorrow’s race,” he concluded.
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