A starting position of 8th place for Japanese GP certainly cannot satisfy Charles Leclerc. The Monegasque explained after qualifying that his final laps were error-free, though he believes tyre temperature was a limiting factor.
LECLERC: “EVEN WITH A SECOND RUN, I WOULDN’T HAVE DONE BETTER”
A lack of available soft tyres compromised his efforts in Q3. However, the Ferrari driver believes that not much would have changed even with another fast lap:
“Honestly, even with a second run, I don’t think I would have done better. I put together all my best corners on that lap in Q3. When I do this the tempo usually comes out, also because the feeling wasn’t that bad. But the grip the tire gave me wasn’t enough and we need to look at this. Especially this year, we struggle a lot on the preparation lap, to prepare the tyre for the fast lap.”
Leclerc then explored this topic in depth post-session, explaining that he tried several methods to increase tyre temperatures:
“There are different approaches. If we look at the different teams, each one gets it up to temperature in a different way. Today, we tried different things. I chose the best one for Q3. I have no regrets, but today there were none more honestly. I have to look at what we need to improve on our side in tyre preparation.”
CONFIDENCE IN THE RACE PACE, BUT OVERTAKING WILL BE FUNDAMENTAL
Team principal Fred Vasseur underlined the importance of making up positions at the race start tomorrow. Leclerc has confidence in Ferrari’s race pace. However, he emphasises the importance of a good start to avoid getting stuck in traffic:
“The confidence in the pace is there, the confidence to overtake on a track like this is a bit less . Today we had to do well in qualifying but, at least on my part, we didn’t do it. Tomorrow we have to make a great start and then hope that the pace is enough to overtake the cars in front. If this is the case, after that, I’m sure we will have a good pace in the race .”
