Charles Leclerc has revealed his disappointment at qualifying fifth for the Formula 1 Belgian Grand Prix, hinting that a better result was possible.
Leclerc never featured in the battle for pole position at Spa, his SF-26 not demonstrating enough speed to bring the Monegasque into contention.
Q1 and Q2 showed promise, moving into second once the first runs were complete, but this would prove to be the highlight of his Saturday.
Q3 saw Leclerc drop back to third initially before the red flag, but he lost lap time on his final run to line up fifth for Sunday’s race. The margin to Antonelli’s pole time was just over half a second, with Leclerc’s teammate Lewis Hamilton splitting him from Piastri in sixth, only two thousandths of a second further back.
Leclerc revealed his disappointment at his performance, but cited a major contributing factor behind his final Q3 lap.
“I’m a bit disappointed with that last lap because there was a yellow flag that was supposed to be for the pit entry,” Leclerc he said to Sky Sports F1.
Charles Leclerc rues “half a second” lost from yellow flag
Leclerc detailed his encounter with the yellow flag, hinting that its location was problematic and cost him significant amounts of lap time.
“It was too visible in my opinion on being on track.
“It was very much in the middle, and I mean that probably cost me one position.
“I wouldn’t have done a crazy better lap time, and half a second was still there, but one position would have been possible.”
Leclerc’s admission of losing half a second yet only one position demonstrates the issues the Monegasque is navigating in Belgium.
The confusion stemmed from a yellow flag intended for a stationary Hadjar in the pit lane, which was mistakenly also waved at the start of pit entry in the closing seconds of the session, prompting Leclerc to lift while still on a competitive lap.
That said, he still out-qualified teammate Lewis Hamilton, giving him hope for the race, however the podium looks set to be beyond the reach of Leclerc this weekend, with Ferrari appearing to lack the outright pace of Mercedes and Red Bull through Spa’s power-sensitive sectors this weekend.
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