Charles Leclerc shares major revelation after defeat to Lewis Hamilton in the F1 Spanish GP qualifying

Charles Leclerc qualified seventh for the 2025 Spanish Grand Prix after opting not to make a second run during Q3 on Saturday, May 31. This led to him being outqualified by his Ferrari teammate, Lewis Hamilton, for only the second time in Grand Prix qualifying this season. This intrigued the paddock, and the Monegasque revealed the bold reason why he decided to sacrifice his qualifying session for the Spanish GP.

The 27-year-old was one of the only drivers to have four new sets of soft tires heading into the qualifying for the Spanish Grand Prix. While his competitors had a significant advantage, with the others bringing five sets of tires for the high-paced session.

Despite this, a four-set count could have easily been able to guarantee the Monegasque for a second run on fresh soft tires as he had made it through Q1 and Q2 using only two new sets. However, Charles Leclerc shockingly opted to stay out in the garage and not put in another lap in Q3 around a highly evolving Circuit de Catalunya.

This saw him drop down from fourth in the Q3 session to a lowly P7, only ahead of the midfielders. This was seemingly a big risk for Leclerc, who decided to save a fresh set of soft tires for the race and revealed how he made this strategy call to potentially sabotage his qualifying plan today, but bear the fruits later on Sunday. He said in the post-qualifying interview to Sky Sports:

"I think we were one of the only cars to have only four new sets of soft for the whole qualifying. All the others around us had five new softs. So, I already knew it was going to be difficult, and I wanted to only use three softs for the whole of qualifying, which is making our life a lot more difficult."

"I take responsibility for it... I'm quite happy with my choice. Yes, I sacrificed today. I hope it will pay off tomorrow. If it doesn't, then it's my fault."

The Monegasque has been the lead Ferrari driver in the 2025 championship standings and will look to continue his solid run of performances in Barcelona on Sunday.

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Charles Leclerc has high expectations for the 2025 Spanish Grand Prix

Charles Leclerc at the F1 Grand Prix of Spain - Source: Getty

Charles Leclerc has previously not performed well around the Circuit de Catalunya. He has two DNFs at the Spanish Grand Prix, courtesy of his troubles at the 2020 and 2022 editions of the race.

Though he has never secured a podium at the European race, he is aiming to thrash this statistic this year, as he reckons a podium is on the cards for him. He said in the same interview:

"The podium. I think the race pace is strong, so it all depends how much we are going to overtake."

Sitting fifth in the 2025 drivers' standings, Charles Leclerc has amassed 79 points in the eight races, 15 points more than sixth-placed Lewis Hamilton.