"It was a difficult session, but there is a problem" - Charles Leclerc on his Mexican GP qualifying session

Charles Leclerc reckons the reason behind his disappointing qualifying performance at the Mexican GP was down to engine issues.

The Ferrari driver has been very impressive all season, scoring numerous pole positions. However, at the Mexican GP qualifying, Leclerc not only qualified in P7 but also finished behind his teammate Carlos Sainz, who qualified P5.

Explaining his qualifying performance, Leclerc suspected an engine being the reason behind his woes. He said:

“It was a difficult session, but there is a problem, I’m sure. We need to look into it. It was mostly engine-wise; we were losing a lot of time down the straight, and there were loads of problems with drivability. The throttle was not really. … I mean the engine was not responding to the throttle input I was giving. Especially in the high speed, it was extremely difficult."

Leclerc expressed hope that Ferrari would fix the issue with the power unit ahead of raceday and sounded confident of a strong result. He said:

"I really hope we can fix that for tomorrow. If yes, I feel confident we can have a good result, if not I’m not sure how it will go. I think this is really a one-off. For me, it was really strange. We need to look into it, and I hope we can find something for tomorrow.”

The Monagesque (267) trails championship winner Max Verstappen (391) with three races to go. The Dutchman will start on pole in Mexico City.

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Charles Leclerc's teammate weighs in on Ferrari's disappointing qualifying session

Charles Leclerc's teammate Carlos Sainz fared better with P5 but admitted after the session that the car was a bit tricky to handle. He said:

“It was a fight. A clear fight out there, I think you could see it from the outside. I don’t know if we haven’t nailed the set-up, or we just got it wrong with tyres, or the altitude is just affecting us a bit too much here, but it’s clear the car over one lap hasn’t been as competitive as it has been in other Grands Prix."

He continued:

"For me, it was more the unpredictability of our car more than anything else. And now we need to focus clearly on putting a good race together knowing that this weekend we might not be the fastest. When the car is so tricky, putting a good lap together in quali is always tricky.”

Sainz was scheduled to take a new power unit this weekend but opted against it. Will he look for that option now or try to fight for a win from his current starting position remains to be seen.