Photo: Race Pictures

Leclerc admits to Baku mistake: 'It's not an excuse, I misjudged it'

21:06, 20 Sep

byKada Sarkozi

Despite having an excellent record in qualifying at the Baku City Circuit, Charles Leclerc qualified tenth this Saturday after causing a red flag.

There was some spits of rain, but I don't think it was actually wetting the track. I don't think that this is an excuse.

- Charles Leclerc in Baku

Charles Leclerc could not extend his streak of pole positions in Baku - Photo: Race Pictures

Leclerc was the first driver to crash in Q3, causing the penultimate red flag of the day in Azerbaijan.

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"I don't think [it was damp]," the Ferrari driver began about his Turn 15 incident in Baku.

"When you look at Carlos [Sainz]'s lap at that time, when you look at others right around me, there was some spits of rain, but I don't think it was actually wetting the track.

"I don't think that this is an excuse or whatsoever. I tried to judge the grip I would have even though it was very difficult to judge, because I had very little grip from the beginning of the lap with these tyres again. I misjudged it," Leclerc added.

Leclerc admits to different weekend

According to the Monegasque driver, it has been a challenging weekend so far.

"I’m obviously frustrated because it’s a track that I normally enjoy and where things flow quite naturally, but it's been the complete opposite the whole weekend.

"I've been just struggling a lot to find the limits of the car and to find the feeling with the car. I knew going into qualifying that it was a bit of an uphill battle, and I changed quite a lot the car going into qualifying and I felt a lot better in Q1, and all the laps on the soft felt much better.

"Then we went on medium which we had kept because we thought it was the best tyre and today with these temperatures it was just impossible for me to switch them on.

"Difficult conditions or not I don't think that this is the reason, I think we were just lacking a lot of pace on medium, I was probably seven or eight tenths off before the mistake and I was pushing like crazy. Something felt off there. We'll look into it. But yes, it was different."

Leclerc to start from the fifth row

After taking pole in Baku for the past four seasons, Leclerc will line up only 10th on Sunday.

His teammate, Lewis Hamilton also had a difficult Saturday, getting eliminated in Q2.

Despite his position on the grid, Leclerc still believes in a good result. "We can still have a great race from where we start. Our target will be to look forward to tomorrow and do a good job.

"We've normally had very good Saturdays and very bad Sundays here. I hope to turn the situation around this weekend."