Charles Leclerc hopes Sunday “is the day” after a frustrating qualifying at the British Grand Prix.
The Monegasque was a solid third in the wet conditions at Silverstone, as Ferrari teammate Carlos Sainz beat Max Verstappen to claim his first Formula 1 pole.
In fact, Sainz may actually have Leclerc to thank as a spin on his final run caused a yellow flag that slowed down the Red Bull driver.
The Charles Leclerc spin on the final runs of Q3. If he hadn’t spun wonder where he would have qualified #F1 #BritishGP #essereFerrari pic.twitter.com/E9DI4hjKhe
— Mohsin (@MB07__) July 2, 2022
But Charles knows how costly his mistake was entering the Hangar Straight.
“Spinning on that last lap, I knew it was the lap where I had to put it all together and I didn’t,” he conceded.
“I didn’t deserve to be on pole but P3 is still a good position to start in the race. If we can put it all together we can come back in the race.
“Carlos is in P1 with his first pole. I am very happy for him. He deserves it. Tomorrow, I will try to do the best start possible and hopefully come in front as quickly as possible.”
In the dry, Red Bull and Verstappen appeared the combination to beat at Silverstone, but Leclerc is confident Ferrari can be in the mix.
“I think the pace is there. If we have a clean race then it should go well,” he enthused.
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“A good start and then tyre management will be a thing too. I think the strategy is mixed between one and two stops so it will be interesting to see who goes for one stop or two.
“Hopefully, tomorrow is the day!”
One thing Ferrari certainly need is a race without any more issues, but team boss Mattia Binotto didn’t inspire complete confidence.
“We’ve got fresh components and I hope that we will not have any issues this weekend but you never know when it comes to reliability,” he told Channel 4.
“It’s a concern for us, maybe for the others as well. It’s a concern for everyone. It’s certainly an important element, a key element for the result
“But we are focused on the race we are not thinking of reliability, at least for this weekend, and hopefully they will cross the chequered flag in the right positions.”