Charles Leclerc, Scuderia Ferrari’s #1, revealed that he “really struggled a lot” during yesterday’s 2024 Spanish GP qualifiers. He expressed his disappointment with his P5 finish, explaining that he had expected to be much closer to pole.
After securing P3 in FP3, the Monégasque entered the qualifying session aiming for a top-three spot. However, he will now start today’s race from the third row, positioned beside his teammate Carlos Sainz.
Reacting to this unexpected outcome, Leclerc openly expressed his frustrations ahead of the 2024 Spanish Grand Prix.
Charles Leclerc 2024 Spanish GP: ‘Very disappointed with his P5 qualifier finish, as he was ‘further from pole than expected’
As the qualifying rounds concluded in Barcelona, Ferrari narrowly missed securing a second-row start, falling short by just one position. Charles Leclerc, who had secured the third position in the final practice session (FP3), was unable to replicate that performance in the grid-deciding session.
His Q3 run was marred by a subpar lap time of 1:11.731, which was significantly slower than his times in the earlier sessions. In Q1, he recorded a lap time of 1:12.257, and in Q2, he managed a lap time of 1:12.038.
Ultimately, Leclerc finished alongside his teammate Carlos Sainz. However, Lando Norris, Max Verstappen, and the Mercedes drivers proved to be out of reach for the Italian team. Despite a strong showing in FP3, his performance in the qualifying sessions was not enough to secure a higher starting position.
"You've got to take the positives from those days" 💪#SpanishGP #F1 pic.twitter.com/emMOK56NET
— Scuderia Ferrari HP (@ScuderiaFerrari) June 22, 2024
Speaking with Ferrari after Q3, he admitted that he “struggled a lot” during the qualifier. Beginning his assessment of the session, he said:
“Well, we struggled a lot. In terms of performance, mostly, I’m a bit shared between two sides of me.”
However, the Monégasque racer revealed that he’s having ‘mixed emotions’ after the qualifying rounds in the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. Firstly, he is again feeling good with his SF-24 car. But, on the other hand, he’s “mostly very disappointed” with his qualifying result. Explaining this, he added:
“One side is… We did a really good job from yesterday to today in terms of car set-up. I changed completely the car on my side because yesterday I felt really bad in the car, and today the feeling is back.”
“However, the other side is that I’m mostly very disappointed with today, because the performance is not there, and we are too far away from pole from where we would like to be.”
Despite his disappointment, Leclerc hopes that he’ll “try to maximize the point” at today’s race. Revealing his post-Spanish GP plans, he concluded by saying:
“It’s not a great day for the team, but tomorrow is the race and we’ll try to maximize our points and then as soon as the weekend is finished try to understand why we were further away than what we thought of pole.”
Leclerc confirms his ‘target will be a podium’ or to ‘take any opportunity to go for something even better’
Moreover, he sang the same tune in the post-qualifying interview. In this session, he confessed that his pace “was just not there” compared to rivals. Speaking about it, he quoted:
“It’s a bit disappointing, because we were further from pole than we expected. “
“On the other hand, my team and I did a good job changing the set-up of the car completely from yesterday to today, which helped me to find the right feeling again.”
“However, the pace just was not there.”
Again, he delivered that his “target will be a podium” or to take “any opportunity to go something even better“. Concluding the session, he added:
“Our target will be a podium and if the weather is tricky, we will take any opportunity to go for something even better.”
As things stand, Charles Leclerc is now sitting in P2 of the 2024 Drivers’ Standings with 138 points. If he manages to clinch the 2024 Spanish GP, he’ll be just 31 points behind ‘table-topper’ Max Verstappen. But, if he fails to be in the podium, there’s a huge chance he’ll lose his P2 spot to McLaren’s Lando Norris.
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