Charles Leclerc suffered a motor issue during the qualifying session
Seventh on the starting grid at the end of the qualifying sessions, Charles Leclerc reflects on this challenging session where he suffered from engine problems. It's surprising to see the Monegasque driver so low on the starting grid this season, as he often manages to get the best out of his car in this exercise.
While he is struggling against Sergio Pérez for the runner-up title in the drivers’ world championship, Charles Leclerc will have to make a great comeback in order to hope to regain some points from his Mexican opponent. The qualifying session did not allow the Monegasque driver to get the upper hand on his rival as he had to deal with significant technical problems.
At the end of his qualifying session, Leclerc spoke about what seemed to be an issue with the engine.
« I wasted a lot of time on the straight lines during the qualifying. Free Practice 3 wasn’t great either, so we definitely need to look into it. » He stated to the Sky Sports F1 microphone.
The Monegasque driver could not fully concentrate on his driving and was not able to get the best out of his car.
We had a lot of problems with the engine today for a reason that we still don’t know. There were many handling issues. […] The engine was not responding to the accelerator input I was giving.
The cause of his various technical issues has not yet been determined, and no connection has been established with the crash that occurred during Free Practice 2.
Leclerc is currently second in the drivers’ championship, 1 point ahead of Perez, who will therefore start 4th on the grid.
