Leclerc wants answers for missing final Q3 run

Charles Leclerc wants Ferrari to provide answers after he ran out of time to start his final attempt in qualifying at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.

Leaving the pits to start his final run in Q3, Leclerc was informed that he only had a five-second margin to make the checkered flag and begin his flying lap. With a number of cars backing up in front of him, Leclerc was unable to cross the line before the session ended and so couldn’t try and improve his time, believing he missed out on second place as he ended up fourth.

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“At the exit of T3 I knew I had a tight margin but to be honest I didn’t want to overtake Sebastian and be in front of him,” Leclerc said.

“P2 was reachable today and I couldn’t go again in Q3, so we need to analyze this situation. We will see tomorrow.

“I have no idea, but sometimes it happens, I don’t know whether the situation was unlucky or if we could have done anything better but yeah, we will analyze it and try to understand to not have it happen again, because it’s a big shame.”

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Despite his frustration, Leclerc will start from third due to a penalty for Valtteri Bottas and believes he can still win the race as he will start on the same tire as Lewis Hamilton and Max Verstappen ahead of him.

“I will take quite a bit of risk at the start. I need to finish in front of Max for the championship so at the end, we will see what happens.

“I think the team was really clear about putting us both on the softs (tires). We were not really sure if we would get to Q3 on the mediums but after the first run in Q2 I had quite a good lap on the softs. I was confident about sacrificing (another go) in the case I had I couldn’t improve on the mediums on the second set. So we went on the mediums, and I gave it all to try and pass to Q3 and we made it, so it’s a good thing.”