Charles Leclerc explained why he didn't attempt a second qualifying lap in Q3 despite being below Max Verstappen on the timesheets.
The Monegasque had warned that he and his Ferrari team were probably not going to be in contention for pole after practice on Friday. But he surprised even himself by very much being in contention part way through the final part of the session.
He was just 0.103 seconds behind Verstappen after their first runs in Q3, leading to assumptions that it would be a tight fight between them for pole position. But, strangely, Leclerc was out of his car with a few minutes to go and never even attempted a second flying lap.
It meant Verstappen was virtually unchallenged for pole as the Dutchman even went quicker on his second run, while Sergio Perez took second place. Leclerc starts third, sharing the second row with team-mate Carlos Sainz.
It was assumed that Leclerc must have had a problem on his car, but he said after the session that wasn't the case. He told David Coulthard: "There wasn't any issue," before hinting that it was a plan to save tyres for the race on Sunday.
Leclerc added: "I think we are in a better place starting third with new tyres than starting first with older ones. I don't know if I would have got on pole or not, but it would have been close."
The Ferrari racer was warned that pole position was probably out of his reach this weekend, and he could not hide his shock about the fact that he was very much in that conversation. He continued: "I think we were in the fight for pole which was a bit of a surprise, to be honest.
"I did not expect that, after testing and the free practices that were a little bit difficult. We managed to find the pace for a quali lap which was great. However, we need to keep in mind that, in our race run, we seem to be a little bit on the back foot compared to Red Bull.
"It was very, very close actually. Aston Martin was quick, Mercedes also at some points of qualifying. We are much closer than what we expected, which is looking good for the future as it makes Formula 1 more exciting."
