Why Leclerc abandoned his final run of F1 qualifying
The Monegasque was second-fastest behind Max Verstappen going into the last minutes of Q3 but failed to complete a final flying lap after climbing out of his Ferrari.
Leclerc’s premature end to qualifying immediately sparked speculation that his Ferrari had suffered some sort of technical issue, but he denied there was any problem.
"There wasn't any issue,” Leclerc said.
A Ferrari spokesperson confirmed the reason was strategy-related, with Leclerc choosing to save a new set of softs to start the race on.
The decision ultimately sacrificed a better starting position for Leclerc after Red Bull’s Sergio Perez improved on his final lap to go second.
Nevertheless, Leclerc said he was happy with the result, describing being in the fight for pole as a “good surprise”.
"I think we were in the fight for pole, which was a good surprise to be honest because I did not expect that after testing and after free practices that were a little bit difficult,” he added.
"We managed to find that pace for the qualifying pace, which was great.
"However, we need to keep in our mind that on the race runs, we seemed to be a little bit on the back foot compared to Red Bull.
"And I think that we're in a better place starting third with new tyres than starting first with older.
"I don't know if I would have been in pole or not but it would have been close."
