Another qualifying, albeit in Sprint format, disappointing for Charles Leclerc. The Monegasque achieved only the seventh time in the Sprint Qualifying of the Chinese GP, a result conditioned not only by the rain which made life difficult for all the drivers in SQ3, but also by an off-track exit on the first launch lap which forced him to pit to replace the damaged front wing.
Leclerc: “Once again I wasn’t able to give my all in qualifying”
Ferrari and Leclerc arrived in Shanghai knowing they had to resolve the problem of the preparation lap, an aspect that is affecting the Monegasque’s results in what was once his strong point. The rain that arrived on the circuit during today’s qualifying did not help in this sense, as clearly demonstrated by Charles’ exit from the track: “Honestly, right from the preparation lap it was very complicated – confirmed Leclerc – It was difficult to get the tires up to temperature, then I lost the car in turn 8 and this complicated the qualification a bit for us. I couldn’t work miracles, I couldn’t have done much more on my part. Once again I was unable to give my best in qualifying, I’m not happy about this“.
Good signs from the dry laps
Before the rain arrived on the Shanghai circuit, Leclerc had proven to be very competitive, so much so that he closed SQ2 with the second fastest time, one tenth behind Max Verstappen’s performance. Precisely from these findings the Monegasque finds the confidence to look forward to the rest of the Chinese GP weekend: “If we look on the bright side, I think I made progress in the dry and I’m happy about that, because I worked a lot on preparing the tires for the dry and it seems that the first fruits are there, at least with a view to tomorrow. We will also see in the Sprint race. I hope I can showcase what I’ve learned, I wanted to do it today but with the rain in Q3 I wasn’t able to. We’ll see tomorrow, trying to give our best in the Sprint race and then we’ll see in qualifying“.
Tags: rain betrays Leclerc difficult tires temperature
