Charles Leclerc finished the qualifying session for the Monaco Formula 1 GP with mixed feelings, after a Saturday marked by speed, but also by difficulties in controlling the behavior of his Ferrari car. The Monegasque will start only from fourth position after hitting the protective barrier on his last attempt in Q3.
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The result was especially frustrating, because Leclerc showed competitive pace throughout the weekend. After making a mistake on his first fast lap in Q3, he provisionally took pole position on his second attempt, before being surpassed by Kimi Antonelli, Max Verstappen, and Lewis Hamilton.
On the decisive lap, when trying to regain positions, the Ferrari driver touched the barrier at Tabac corner, and had to end his participation in the session. According to Leclerc, the lap was very strong until the moment of the incident.
“The last lap was really on the limit and I believe it was a very good lap up to that point, but I never managed to complete it. I had a bit of dirty air on that attempt and lost the rear on the entry to turn 12. There was no traffic directly ahead, but the dirty air was enough to compromise the car,” he stated.
The Monegasque revealed that he continues to face difficulties with the behavior of the Ferrari car, a problem that had already been pointed out in the previous round in Canada. According to him, the feeling when braking has been unpredictable, making it more difficult to extract maximum performance from the car.
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“The main issue is that I really don’t know what I’m going to find at the moment. Every time I step on the brake it’s a kind of discovery,” he said. The driver preferred not to go into technical details, but highlighted that inconsistency has been one of the biggest obstacles in recent races.
Leclerc explained that the difficulties increase when the tires are not in their ideal operating range: “It has been extremely inconsistent and I have suffered a lot with it, both in Montreal and here. When the tires are not in the correct window, everything becomes even more complicated,” he added.
According to the Ferrari driver, small variations in the car’s behavior end up generating significant consequences on a circuit like Monaco: “We are talking about details, but being inside or outside the ideal window makes a huge difference. All these small things have a very big impact and I have been facing difficulties with this recently,” concluded the Monegasque, who will now try to recover positions in Sunday’s race, starting from fourth place.
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