Leclerc, known for his fast laps, didn’t perform as well as expected in qualifying. He came in eighth, which was unexpected for him. His teammate Carlos Sainz did better, ranking fourth.
Leclerc couldn’t explain why he didn’t do well in qualifying. He said it felt like one of those bad days that happen maybe once a season. He mentioned that everything felt fine with the car, but he was still far behind on the leaderboard.
He said, “When this happens, we usually look at the tires and how they warm up. Today, I tried different things, but nothing worked.”
Leclerc mentioned that even though he didn’t do well in qualifying, Ferrari’s race pace looked promising. But he also acknowledged that qualifying is crucial on a track like Suzuka, and their performance wasn’t good enough.
During the qualifying session, Leclerc set his fastest lap early, hoping it would be enough. However, he ended up getting passed by other drivers who improved their times later in the session.
When asked if a different strategy would have helped, Leclerc didn’t think so. He said the whole qualifying session didn’t go well for him, starting from the first lap of Q1.
He said, “Usually, when I feel good with the car, the time is good too. But today was the opposite. We need to figure out what went wrong.”
