F1 Spa, for Charles Leclerc it’s a morale-boosting pole
When Charles Leclerc saw the rain at the Spa Francorchamps circuit and later the sun drying up the track, he might have had some strange thoughts. He admitted that he needs to improve in mixed conditions, where he has never been able to extract 100% of his potential. After the anonymous Sprint at the Red Bull Ring, Charles Leclerc criticized himself harshly and then took action, making some modifications to his driving style.
The results came immediately with the pole position in Belgium. Of course, this result would never have happened without Max Verstappen’s penalty, but car #16 still outpaced a much more dominant car – Sergio Perez’s Red Bull, his teammate Carlos Sainz (who excels in these conditions), and a qualifying specialist like Lewis Hamilton. His words reflect happiness but also a sense of reality for the race, where the Monegasque already knows that he cannot match the Red Bull if they are in his rearview mirrors.
Charles Leclerc’s words:
“In my driving, I changed some very small details, but in the end, they made a big difference. This also concerns the setup, which can give me more confidence from one corner to another. However, for Sunday, I don’t have much confidence, with the two Red Bulls behind us being significantly faster. If, for some reason, there is an opportunity, we will seize it,” said the Monegasque in the press conference following the qualifying session for the Belgian Grand Prix.
Pole impossible without Max Verstappen’s penalty:
“In mixed conditions, I tended to drive a bit too aggressively and made mistakes. Today, I changed my approach, and it seems to work. In Spain and Austria, I didn’t feel very comfortable in the car on the wet track, but today I did. Surely, this is positive, but the pole was not possible today because Max was absolutely too fast, even though we could have been closer.” – the Monegasque pointed out.
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“These were not bad qualifying sessions for us, especially in these conditions, where it is always very complicated to put everything together. I worked hard to improve in these conditions; I didn’t feel so comfortable until a few races ago, and it seems that this effort has paid off,” he concluded. “We went out a bit late in the last attempt, but the pole was definitely not within our reach. Having said that, we will start from an excellent position on Sunday, and we’ll see how it goes. The end of Q2 was very complicated, Ocon had crashed and continued in front of me, so I had all the pressure on that last lap that I absolutely had to complete. The conditions were not easy, so I’m happy, but there will still be a lot of work to do to keep the Red Bulls behind us.”
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