Ferrari driver Charles Leclerc had a stellar performance in the earlier F1 Qualifying, which will allow him to begin the upcoming 2026 Austrian GP from the front row. After a more challenging Friday Practice day, during which he had lacked feeling during his only hour of track time, the Monegasque was able to turn his weekend around, setting the right tone for the race to come.
Saturday had much more performance in store for the Monegasque, who had begun to show promising effort in Q2 already, setting the best early benchmark. In the following Qualifying segment, Leclerc had set a very impressive 1:06.349, which had put him momentarily on top, ahead of his teammate Lewis Hamilton.
An eventful Qualifying session for Leclerc ahead of the F1 Austrian GP
However, the eight time race winner was ultimately dethroned by George Russell’s late attempt, following Verstappen’s crash. Leclerc felt all in all very pleased with his Qualifying performance ahead of the F1 Austrian GP, as he mentioned in the post session press conference.
“The car is feeling good and I think the team is pushing like crazy at the moment, which is really nice to see. In Barcelona we had a big package, but everybody’s pushing like crazy to try and product those upgrades as quickly as possible and bring them to the track also as quickly as possible. And it’s definitely paying off.”
In spite of the strong result achieved, Leclerc admitted that his feeling with the SF-26 still wasn’t the best, but that he was finally able to combine all the data gathered in his final, decisive pole attempt.
“So, that’s really good to see. My qualifying was quite tricky. Honestly, the car on braking, I was really, really struggling quite a lot from Q1 to the last lap in Q3. I managed to do a bit of a better lap in Q3, which I’m happy of. I thought at one point that I could have pole, but George was just too quick.”
A recovery performance for the recently renewed Ferrari man
While there is definitely a bit of disappointment for not managing to secure his first pole position of the season, there is also relief on Leclerc’s side of the garage, as the Monegasque had crashed out of the Barcelona-Catalunya Qualifying session, struggling with a technical DNF in light of Hamilton’s win on the following day.
“But the first row is good, especially after the last couple of races where the feeling wasn’t there in Canada and Monaco. In Barcelona, unfortunately, there was the technical issue that cost us a few more points. And yeah, to be back with a bit more of a normal weekend feels good. I needed that.”
After the rather challenging Montmeló weekend, as well as an additional home race DNF in Monaco, Leclerc’s expectations for the Austrian GP weekend had definitely lowered. He also reckoned the fact that, while he could have tried to extract more from his challenger, Mercedes and Russell were much too far ahead to be caught.
“Honestly, it wasn’t a very special lap. As I said, I just wanted a clean qualifying. I just wanted a clean lap. And so, when you are in this mindset, maybe you leave a little bit of margin on the table. But I don’t regret it because I wouldn’t have beaten George anyway. So yeah, second is the best we could do today.”
And what about tomorrow?
Asked about his plans for the main event tomorrow, the Scuderia Ferrari talent felt unsure, as while the lack of grip had severely impacted his Friday, promising speed and pace have been recorded during the longer simulations. While there is definitely a strong base to build on for tomorrow, during Qualifying already there was a certain element of unexpected, in the Monegasque’s opinion.
“It’s very strange because yesterday was a very tough day for the team. I think we were struggling a lot as a team. And today we did a big step forward. I did not expect, and I think as a team we did not expect, to be in front of the McLarens particularly and close to the Mercedes. So that’s a good surprise.
“Then for the race in itself, I think we did a step forward with the car for tomorrow. Whether this will be enough to challenge the Mercedes, I doubt so. But if there’s an opportunity, I’ll do everything to take it,” Leclerc concluded, definitely aiming for his first race win since 2024.
