Charles Leclerc (8): “I was slow” / Formula 1

For Charles Leclerc, qualifying on the Suzuka roller coaster did not go as planned. The Ferrari driver could not get past the eighth place in the fight for the starting positions and thus he was disappointed. After chasing times, he summed up: “The feeling was good, but when I looked at the lap times afterwards, it was a disaster.”

“I usually get more grip in this type of race, I can’t explain why it wasn’t the case this time,” sighed the current World Championship runner-up. “I can’t say why I had more trouble compared to Carlos (Sainz) until we got into Q3 – maybe I was in better shape then. But overall I had a lot of trouble.”

“I didn’t make any mistakes or slip on my lap, I was just slow,” admitted the 26-year-old. “And of course I’m not happy about that. We have to look at it and understand what went wrong with the tires and why the actors didn’t do as well as expected. “

“Such things sometimes happen in the course of the season. This time it was like that. We have to look at it, usually it has something to do with preparing the tires for a quick lap – we had a little trouble getting a full window of work during the warm-up. We will analyze it and trying to understand why it happened that way,” added Leclerc.

Qualification, Japan

01. Max Verstappen (NL), Red Bull Racing, 1:28,197 minutes
02. Sergio Pérez (MEX), Red Bull Racing, 1:28.263
03. Lando Norris (GB), McLaren, 1:28.489
04. Carlos Sainz (E), Ferrari, 1:28.682
05. Fernando Alonso (E), Aston Martin, 1:28.686
06. Oscar Piastri (AUS), McLaren, 1:28.760
07. Lewis Hamilton (GB), Mercedes, 1:28,766
08. Charles Leclerc (MC), Ferrari, 1:28,786
09. George Russell (GB), Mercedes, 1:29,008
10. Yuki Tsunoda (J), Racing Bulls, 1:29,413
11. Daniel Ricciardo (AUS), Racing Bull, 1:39.472
12. Nico Hülkenberg (D), Haas, 1:29.494
13. Valtteri Bottas (FIN), Sauber, 1:29.593
14. Alex Albon (T), Williams, 1:29,714
15. Esteban Ocon (F), Alpine, 1:29,816
16. Lance Stroll (CDN), Aston Martin, 1:30,024
17. Pierre Gasly (F), Alpine, 1:30,119
18. Kevin Magnussen (DK), Haas, 1:30.131
19. Logan Sargeant (USA), Williams, 1:30,139
20. Guanyu Zhou (RCH), Sauber, 1:30,143