Ferrari ace Charles Leclerc: Question marks after qualifying at Madrid

For Charles Leclerc, qualifying on the brand-new Madring circuit did not go to plan: the Ferrari driver was ultimately 0.195 seconds slower than pole-sitter Lando Norris and had to settle for fifth place. His team-mate Lewis Hamilton was just six thousandths of a second faster, securing himself a place on the second row of the grid.

The Monegasque driver was puzzled after getting out of the car: “Perhaps I just couldn’t improve as much as my rivals. But my lap was pretty clean. Sure, there were a few places here and there where I probably lost a bit of time, and when I look at how close it was in the end, that’s naturally a bit frustrating. At the same time, I think every driver on the grid would say they could find more time if asked.”

The fact that defending champion Lando Norris secured pole position came as a surprise to many observers. After all, the McLaren driver hadn’t managed a top-three time in free practice. He even missed most of the second practice session because the gearbox in his MCL40 had to be replaced.

Leclerc admits as much: “It must have been a very good lap that he put in at the end, because before that it didn’t look as though he’d be able to snatch pole. But I didn’t notice much either, as I was busy setting a fast lap myself. That’s why I focused primarily on my own work.”

The nine-time Grand Prix winner also revealed what’s giving him cause for concern after qualifying: “I lost four tenths in the first sector; we’ll need to look into that. My warm-up laps weren’t ideal, but four tenths is a lot, and I don’t know what was going on there. Sure, there are plenty of straights, but I doubt we lost all four tenths there.”

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Referring to the high tyre wear that caused problems for the teams and drivers during Friday’s practice sessions, Leclerc added: “Tyre management will certainly be an issue. Normally, track conditions improve. But on Friday, this was by far the worst track in terms of tyre wear. You can’t really overtake very well on this track, but if tyre degradation is just as high during the race, then it might still be possible to get past an opponent.”