Leclerc says qualifying “not a disaster” after last-lap errors cost him shot at third · RaceFans

Charles Leclerc said losing a chance to start the Austrian Grand Prix from third place was “not a disaster” following a series of mistakes on his final lap.

The Ferrari driver owned up to three errors on his final lap, beginning at turn four. He said his subsequent mistakes occured as he tried to salvage the lost time.

“It’s frustrating because whenever you know you have the potential to do well and you do a mistake yourself, it always hurts,” he told the official F1 channel. “But it’s like this. It’s not a disaster. P7 is not good, I think P3 was possible today.

“Turn one and three was really, really good in my last lap, I was two tenths faster than my [first] lap. Then I did a mistake in turn four.

“I tried even more to catch back some time in turn six and lost it. I tried the same in turn nine and lost it. It’s life.

“I think it paid off more than it hurt this year, by pushing that way in qualifying. Today it bit me.”

Leclerc suffered his second setback in as many days as he was unable to set a time in the final round of qualifying for the sprint race yesterday due to a problem with his power unit.

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“Obviously I’m a bit disappointed, especially because with the team we had two or three races where we had a tough time and I feel like today was an opportunity to be back in the top three,” he said. “But I didn’t do a good job on that second lap. But the first lap on scrubbed tyres was really good.”

After climbing three places in the sprint race to finish seventh, Leclerc believes Ferrari are in better shape for the grand prix.

“It’s looking better than what it looked [like] this morning because we are in a different configuration that should help a little bit more the race pace tomorrow,” he said. “So I’m looking forward to it and we’ll see where we are.”

However he expects front row starters Max Verstappen and Lando Norris will be out of reach in the grand prix.

“I think Lando and Max is not going to be possible tomorrow, they are too fast this weekend,” he said. “I think Oscar [Piastri] behind is going to be tricky. But he’s starting behind, so maybe we can keep that position.

“With the Mercedes we’ve been close all weekend, but I feel like we do everything perfect, we can beat them.”

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