Charles Leclerc is refusing to target a repeat of his 2019 Belgian Grand Prix victory despite starting from pole position.
Leclerc will lead away the field for Sunday’s race at the Spa-Francorchamps circuit after securing top spot on the grid thanks to Max Verstappen being hit with a five-place grid penalty for a gearbox change beyond the permitted allocation for the season.
Although the Red Bull driver only just scraped into Q3, leading to him berating race engineer Gianpiero Lambiase, he crushed his rivals in the top-10 shoot-out, finishing 0.820secs clear of Leclerc.
Although Verstappen starts from sixth on the grid given the penalty, and with the Dutchman’s team-mate Sergio Perez now alongside the Monégasque on the front row, Leclerc recognises he is likely to be swallowed up by both Red Bulls.
Asked as to his chances of victory, Leclerc replied: “Not confident, especially with the two Red Bull guys right behind. They’ve got a much better race car than we have.
“It’s great to be starting first, and it gives us a good chance to have a great result, but to say we will target the win is probably a bit too optimistic.
“If there’s an opportunity for whatever reason, as always, I’ll try and get it, but I believe it’s going to be difficult to keep these guys behind.”
For Leclerc, his performance was at least a step in the right direction, especially in the changeable conditions as the qualifying session started on intermediates before switching to soft tyres with a few minutes remaining in Q2.
Leclerc concedes he has struggled in the past with such a changeover, so has been forced to adapt.
“I’ve put quite a lot of work in for those conditions – half-wet, half-dry,” said Leclerc. “It’s one of those conditions where I have struggled with the car, but I felt much better, so this was positive, but still very far from Max, in Q3 especially.”
Detailing what has changed, Leclerc added: “It’s more changes with my driving style. I have quite an aggressive driving style, whether it’s in full wet or full dry, which pays off in those conditions.
“But in those (mixed) conditions, it just doesn’t work for me. I was making too many mistakes and it was difficult to build from a solid base, so I changed the approach a little bit and it seems to be better.
“It’s very difficult to give details. It’s very slight changes but that makes a big difference in the end.
“I tried different directions with tools, so the way the car is set up and the way I can change it from one corner to the other, and this gave me much more confidence straight away and the lap time became better.”
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