Charles Leclerc takes "full responsibility” as F1 qualifying run plan backfires
A difficult day in the office for Charles Leclerc.
Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc said he is taking “full responsibility” for a difficult showing in qualifying for the Spanish Grand Prix.
Leclerc chose to complete just one run in the final segment of qualifying in Barcelona, while most of his Formula 1 rivals went out twice to maximise their starting position for Sunday.
The strategy backfired for the Monegasque and he ended up a distant seventh on the grid, more than half a second off pole-sitter Oscar Piastri.
Leclerc’s lap was also a tenth down on teammate Lewis Hamilton, who qualified a solid fifth in the sister SF-25.
The 27-year-old explained that it was he who decided to deter from the usual run plan, despite Ferrari suggesting that he goes out on a used soft tyres before bolting on a fresh set.
He didn't have the luxury of two new sets of tyres in Q3, having burned through too much rubber in practice.
“I think that with two sets in Q3, it's always easier and I probably would have found time. How much? I don't know,” he told reporters including Crash.net.
“Also I think there were a bit more clouds, but I take full responsibility for the way the qualifying has gone.
“It was my choice and in Q3 it was my choice to go in the middle when the team was pushing me to go to the end.
“I still wanted to have a plan B in case that one lap wasn't going to plan, a mistake or whatsoever, the chance to have a second lap. So, that's on me.
“I also did all these choices in order to have better tyres for tomorrow's race. If tomorrow we have a very bad race, then I will take the responsibility of a bad weekend.
“If it goes well, then I'm happy to take the credit of pushing the team one way, but only time will tell.
“Obviously P7 is a little bit below our expectations. Even with the choices I've made for qualifying, I expect it to be further up. But that's the way it is now. The choices are made and I hope that we will pay off.”
Leclerc ended fifth in Friday practice in Barcelona, beating the second Mercedes of rookie Kimi Antonelli.
However, he feels Ferrari slipped backwards relative to the competition overnight, with Antonelli splitting him and Hamilton the grid.
“I was a bit more optimistic after FP1, FP2,” he said. “I thought that the car was behaving pretty well, but unfortunately in qualifying it went back to normal and that's a little bit what I was thinking of last night.”
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