Charles Leclerc admits his mistake during qualifying for the 2019 Spanish Grand Prix affected the handling of his car, resulting in a disappointing fifth place start for Sunday’s race.
Leclerc ran wide exiting turn nine during Q2 and damaged the floor of his Ferrari SF90. While the team attempted to repair the car in the limited time available, Leclerc admits that the “balance was different” following the incident.
“It is not the qualifying result we hoped for,” said Leclerc. “We have been working on finding the right balance, especially with the new parts we have in place. Unfortunately, we were still a bit off today.
“I went wide in Q2 and some parts were damaged when I went over the kerb. The team did a great job and tried to fix the car during the session to let me continue driving.
“After the incident, the balance was different and we have to check our data to make sure we get our car back in shape for the race tomorrow.”
Leclerc, who made a costly mistake during qualifying in Baku too, completed Q3 with a lap time of 1:16.588, over a second shy of Valtteri Bottas‘s pole-setting time. Still, the Monegasque remains confident heading into Sunday’s race.
“Our competitors are strong, but we remain confident of our potential and will do our best to catch them.”
