Charles Leclerc: “Tough qualifying, but we made progress in dry conditions” | 2024 China Sprint. Charles Leclerc gives verdict on his result and performance in China Sprint qualifying.

Historically, it’s his strong suit, or at least one of his strengths, but so far in the 2024 Formula One season, qualifying has been almost Charles Leclerc’s main weakness. In China, rain complicated the plans for the Scuderia Ferrari driver, who has struggled in the first four events to get the tires in the right window during the out lap.

It’s an aspect he had worked profitably on in the sole free practice session held in Shanghai, where this weekend features the new revised Sprint format. However, his efforts were somewhat thwarted when the track was soaked by rain before the start of the Q3 of Sprint Qualifying: the Ferrari driver indeed made a mistake during the out lap, spinning and making slight contact with the barriers.

The impact damaged the front wing of his SF-24, forcing him to return to the pits, effectively completing one less flying lap than all his competitors. A significant handicap with the changing track conditions and the recent asphalt treatments making the surface extremely slippery in the wet. Therefore, in the first Sprint of 2024, he’ll have to start from the seventh position on the grid.

“Honestly, it was extremely complicated right from the out lap because it was very difficult to get the tires up to temperature. I tried to be more aggressive and lost the car at turn 8. This spoiled our qualifying a bit because I couldn’t perform miracles, even though I don’t think we could have done much more,” Charles Leclerc said at the end of the Sprint qualifying session at the 5.451-kilometre Shanghai International Circuit.

“Once again, I couldn’t give my best in qualifying, and I can’t be happy about that. The positive aspect, however, is that I made some good strides in the dry, and I’m happy because I worked hard on tire preparation, and it seems like there are some initial results, at least for tomorrow’s perspective,” he added.

At least after the Sprint tomorrow, there will be qualifying for the long Sunday race, so the Monegasque will have a chance to try to redeem himself and evaluate the progress he believes he has made in tire preparation for dry conditions.

“That’s what I hope to do. I wanted to show something today already, but then with the rain in Q3, I couldn’t. Tomorrow we’ll try to give our best in the Sprint, and then we’ll see what happens in qualifying,” Charles Leclerc concluded.