'Extremely disappointed' - Ferrari's Charles Leclerc laments poor qualifying result after red flag in Brazil
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Published 11/11/2022 at 22:10 GMT
A premature end to the qualifying session on Friday at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix gave Kevin Magnussen an unexpected pole position for Saturday's Sprint race, but also left Charles Leclerc down in 10th. The Monegasque driver said he was 'extremely disappointed' with the result, and could see him struggle for a good starting spot for Sunday's full race.
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Charles Leclerc was ‘extremely disappointed’ with his 10th place in Friday’s qualifying session at the Sao Paulo Grand Prix.
The Ferrari driver was at the bottom of the active drivers in Q3 when George Russell beached his Mercedes at Turn 4 of the Interlagos circuit.
That accident brought a yellow flag which quickly turned to red, leaving just over eight minutes of the final session to run, as Kevin Magnussen sat top, Max Verstappen in second, and Russell in third.
Ultimately no positions would change again for the rest of qualifying as heavy rain started to fall, and Lewis Hamilton’s test run was quickly abandoned.
Leclerc had been hoping to move up the rankings but missed the optimal time for rain, spending the mostly dry qualifying on inters and adrift when there was a downpour.
"We were expecting some rain; it never came," he told Sky Sports. "I will speak with the team and try to see what we can do better in those conditions. Extremely disappointed, the pace was there.
"We still have the car but now we need to get on it and do everything good for the rest of the weekend. I accepted the decision to go on inters and then I just waited for the rain that never came."
Verstappen was looking forward to more unpredictable weather to come, saying: "We knew it was going to be one lap of rain and I think I was like fourth or fifth car and I locked up into Turn Eight, so it cost me pole today. But compared to the proper opposition for tomorrow it looks good, anything can happen so being up front is the most important thing.
"I always try to have fun, but the approach should always be the same - let's see how competitive we are tomorrow in the race but also we have no clue how the weather's going to be - that's what makes Interlagos always special for everyone."
Russell was happy for Magnussen, explaining that he was, "happy to be P3 and massive congratulations to Kevin - what an awesome job he did and Haas. They deserve it for all the effort they have put in.
"P3 is not necessarily where we wanted to be but a very good place to be starting for the Sprint.”
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