"No, not at all," Leclerc said. "The only thing is that I think twice, I can't remember when exactly, we were very tight on time to go through the finish line.

"So that's why I asked the team to say to Seb to just push, because I would be very tight on time, so that was the only reason. But no, he of course didn't compromise my qualifying."

Leclerc noted that Ferrari was at a loss to explain why the car is losing out in Paul Ricard's third sector.

"I think it is general grip around the corners, to be honest. We're quite quick in the straights, but in the corners, struggling a bit more.

"This weekend there is something interesting that we didn't understand completely yet.

"In sector 1 or 2 we don't seem to be too far off, or at least during the weekend in FP1, FP2 and FP3, but in sector 3 we are losing quite a lot actually, most of the time. We need to work on that, and try to understand where is the issue."

However, he was happy with his own performance.

"I was completely aware that my weak point in the last few grands prix was putting the car in right window for Q3, so I worked on that and happy to see improvement."

We want your opinion!

What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?

Take our 5 minute survey.

- The Motorsport.com Team

Read and post comments

Share Or Save This Story

Copy link

Share on Viber

Previous article French GP: Hamilton beats Bottas to pole, Vettel seventh

Next article Bottas says changing wind hampered pole chances

Top Comments

There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?

View More & Comment

Latest news

Alex Bowman hits out at critics in snarky post, shooting down early exit rumors

NASCAR Cup

NAS NASCAR Cup

Homestead-Miami

1 h

Alex Bowman hits out at critics in snarky post, shooting down early exit rumors

Ryan Blaney gets sweet redemption after 'nightmares' following 2024 Homestead loss

NASCAR Cup

NAS NASCAR Cup

Homestead-Miami

1 h

Ryan Blaney gets sweet redemption after 'nightmares' following 2024 Homestead loss

IndyCar 2026 season review: Dale Coyne Racing

IndyCar

Indy IndyCar 1 h

IndyCar 2026 season review: Dale Coyne Racing

Noah Gragson apologizes to Daniel Suarez for spinning him at Homestead

NASCAR Cup

NAS NASCAR Cup

Homestead-Miami

2 h

Noah Gragson apologizes to Daniel Suarez for spinning him at Homestead

Feature

Discover prime content

How Formula 1 proved the naysayers wrong – for once

Formula 1

Sao Paulo GP

By Stuart Codling

How Formula 1 proved the naysayers wrong – for once

How Lando Norris prevailed in a swift errors tour of Interlagos

Formula 1

Sao Paulo GP

By Stuart Codling

How Lando Norris prevailed in a swift errors tour of Interlagos

"He really wanted it" – why Russell was furious over aborted Brazil ‘pole’ lap

Formula 1

Sao Paulo GP

By Stuart Codling

"He really wanted it" – why Russell was furious over aborted Brazil ‘pole’ lap

What we learned from Friday practice at the 2026 Brazilian GP

Formula 1

Sao Paulo GP

By Jake Boxall-Legge

What we learned from Friday practice at the 2026 Brazilian GP

Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.

From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.

You have 2 options:

Become a subscriber.
Disable your adblocker.

Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here

Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page

Manage Alerts