Charles Leclerc has played down a Ferrari tyre mistake during the final phase of qualifying for the Formula 1 Belgian Grand Prix.
Having progressed to Qualifying 3 despite grid penalties ensuring he’d start well down the order regardless of his Saturday performance, Leclerc was used by the team for the advantage of team-mate Carlos Sainz.
The Monegasque driver twice positioned himself such that Sainz gained a slipstream up the Kemmel Straight, the second effort seeing him leave the pit lane inside the final minute of the session.
However, it was earlier in Qualifying 3 that a mistake saw the wrong set of tyres fitted; new soft rubber instead of a used set.
It was a point he queried over the radio, to which the Ferrari pit wall responded to Leclerc: “sorry, that was a mistake.”
“I think there was a miscommunication. It wasn’t a big deal,” the 24-year-old said after the session.
“But obviously I mentioned it because I was a bit surprised.
“But yeah, it doesn’t change anything anyway for the rest of the weekend.”
While it was an inconsequential mistake, it’s the latest in a line of issues that have plagued the Scuderia this season.
That included a poor strategy call in Hungary that left Leclerc sixth at the flag, having led through the middle part of the race.
In France, there was another baffling strategic call, in that instance for Sainz, while in Monaco Leclerc received a panicked series of messages which ultimately saw him pit at the wrong time.
Against that backdrop, Leclerc responded simply “no” when asked if he found the Belgian qualifying mistake frustrating.
While he will start 16th following penalties for new power unit elements, team-mate Sainz will line up on pole, despite being 0.6s slower than Max Verstappen.
The Red Bull driver will also start down the order after he too took grid penalties for power unit element changes.
It means Sainz will inherit pole despite being more than half a second off the outright pace.
“In terms of overall feeling, it was okay,” Sainz said of his qualifying effort.
“We don’t have any big balance issues across the whole weekend, we just have a pace deficit to Red Bull and Max.
“It’s a bit puzzling because we have been on the pace all year, you know, we’ve been fighting for pole all year.
“But for some reason at this track, this weekend, I don’t know if it’s temperatures, the efficiency of their car or whatever, it is putting them with a healthy, very healthy margin ahead.
“That is making our life a bit more difficult,” he added.
“But even like that, we executed a good quali as a team and we managed to put ourselves on pole for tomorrow, and we will try and win from there.”
Sainz is joined on the front row by Sergio Perez in the second Red Bull, while Verstappen will start 15th.
The Formula 1 Belgian Grand Prix start at 23:00 AEST tonight.
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