Leclerc ‘definitely did not expect’ Spa qualifying result after going second quickest and inheriting P1

Charles Leclerc was in high spirits after qualifying for the Belgian Grand Prix, with the Ferrari driver pulling a lap out of the bag to initially claim second on the grid – which becomes pole position due to Max Verstappen’s engine penalty.

Leclerc produced a time of 1m 53.754s in a tricky, rain-hit session at Spa-Francorchamps to slot in behind the dominant Verstappen, but the Dutchman’s 10-place drop means it is the Monegasque who will start Sunday’s race from P1.

READ MORE: Verstappen claims P1 in Belgium qualifying ahead of grid penalty with Leclerc to start race from pole

Asked to reflect on his session, and his promotion to pole-sitter, Leclerc commented: “It’s good. I mean I definitely did not expect that this weekend.

“Obviously with the tricky conditions we could do something above our expectations – it’s a good day for the team. Now we need to focus on tomorrow and see what will happen whenever the rain is gone.”

He continued: “I think without this rain probably P5 was the position we were fighting for with the Mercedes especially. Obviously with the rain it helped us a little bit, but I’m not going to complain.

“I’m really happy… I’m very happy with the lap in Q3 and it’s good to be back on the front part of the grid, but now we’ve got to finalise that tomorrow.”

Leclerc’s first challenge on Sunday will be trying to keep hold of P1 on the opening lap, with Spa offering cars behind an opportunity to slipstream on the run to Eau Rouge and pull off an overtake along the Kemmel Straight.

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”It’s not the easiest first place to keep on the first lap here, but honestly I will see,” he said. “Every start is different and once I’ll be in the car tomorrow through Eau Rouge I’ll decide what’s the best thing I can do, but obviously I’ll try to keep that first place.”

On the other side of the Ferrari garage, it was not such a competitive Q3 phase for Carlos Sainz, who had to settle for P8, which becomes P7 after Verstappen’s penalty.

“Everything felt pretty straightforward for me,” began the Spaniard. “I was quite happy with the car in the Q1 and Q2, and even in Q3 I felt like I was driving well in the wet and putting together some strong laps and quick all-round.

“Just the last set [of tyres in] Q3 for some reason was a bit of a disaster for me. I didn’t find the grip that I had all session and I was really struggling with the tyres, with the warm-up, and I had absolutely zero grip.

“It’s something to look into, to analyse, see what we could have done better, but time to quickly switch the page because tomorrow is a new day and it’s race day.”

AS IT HAPPENED: Follow all the action from qualifying for the Belgian Grand Prix

With dry weather conditions expected to return tomorrow, Sainz added: “I think we have a chance to be in a position to move forward through the field.

“At the same time, in front of me there are cars with very similar pace, or some of them even quicker than us. It will be difficult to move forward, but we’ll give it our best chance with strategy and managing the race.”