Charles Leclerc admitted that he’s “not satisfied” to have qualified second for Formula 1‘s Monaco Grand Prix, despite his low expectations heading into the weekend.
Leclerc had been pessimistic regarding the chance that he could repeat his maiden win on home soil from 2024 amid Ferrari’s limitations in low speed with the SF-25.
However, the Monegasque was quickest over all three practice sessions to emerge as a genuine contender to beat the more-fancied McLaren drivers to pole position.
But while Leclerc sent the grandstands wild as he pipped the McLarens with his last timed run in Q3, Lando Norris then improved on his final attempt to take top spot.
Leclerc rued his opening lap in the top-10 shootout being compromised due to Max Verstappen’s slow-moving Red Bull, although he denied that thwarted his pole bid.
“It was a good lap,” Leclerc told media including Motorsport Week. “But it was a bit of a tricky Q3.
“In the first run of the Q3 I had Max in the second sector and lost a lot of lap time there.
“So obviously when you don’t have that first time in Q3 then you have a little bit less confidence to go flat out on the second run.
“I don’t think this made the difference at the end of the day. I haven’t seen exactly the gap, but I think it’s bigger than a few hundredths. So yeah, the way it is.
“I’m obviously disappointed being at home and being on top of the practice sessions was a good sign.
“But I kind of felt in Q3, where I knew that I was wanting laps, being very much on the limit, and when you look at the onboard, you can feel drivers that are taking a bit of a step back.
“So I knew it would be close. But at the end of the day, I am disappointed.”
Leclerc was discontent with missing Monaco pole
Leclerc retorted that Ferrari’s competitiveness in Monte Carlo transpiring to be better than he envisaged meant that he could be content with a front-row starting spot.
“No, I’m not satisfied, because you forget very quickly the expectations that you have going into a weekend when the practice is going so well,” he explained.
“So I think we were wrong with the expectations that we had. And at the end of the day, it was a lot more positive than what we initially thought.
“We still need to understand why. To be completely honest, for me it’s unknown. I don’t quite know why we are so fast into those low speeds suddenly.
“But we’ll analyse that after the weekend. I don’t know. It’s quite a nice feeling.”
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