Charles Leclerc believes his Ferrari was quick enough for pole position before he lost time behind Isack Hadjar on his final lap.
The Ferrari driver went quickest of all through the first sector before he caught Hadjar’s Racing Bulls car in turns six and seven. Leclerc said the dirty air from the car ahead compromised his run.
“The pace was there,” he told the official F1 channel. “I think the car was good enough for pole but I messed it up completely and I’m very annoyed. I just got out of the car so obviously emotions are running high. I’m very annoyed.”
Leclerc felt it may have been a mistake to begin their final run as early as they did. “I don’t know if it was the right thing or not to go out early,” he said. “We ended up having Isack in the middle of turn six or seven in the middle. He was 100 metres in front but with these cars and on a track like this, you lose all the grip.
“It’s a shame because until then I think it was… I mean, we had only done seven corners, but I think it was good enough for pole.
“So I’m very frustrated. I think today the car was really good and we haven’t maximised anything.”
Ferrari team principal Frederic Vasseur pointed out Leclerc’s first sector time compared well to George Russellwho took pole position.
“That first split went very well, he was one tenth faster than Russell,” said Vasseur. “I don’t want to say that [he] would have done the pole position because you have still two-thirds of the lap to do, but we were there, we were [on] the pace and everything went well until this corner.
“Now it is like it is, we have to think about tomorrow.”
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