Ferrari had a satisfactory Qualifying result at the Belgian GP, as both of their cars looked quite pacy throughout the whole session. With Max Verstappen’s five-place grid penalty coming into play, Charles Leclerc took pole and will start from the front on Sunday’s race. However, while talking at the post-qualifying press conference, Leclerc believes that it was him, and not the upgrades, who should get the credit for the immense pace shown by Ferrari.
According to The Racer, Ferrari brought new parts to Spa like every other team. The Maranello outfit had their upgrades focused toward the rear wing because the track has a lot of high-speed corners, and a high downforce setup becomes key in those situations.
This is one of the major reasons why Ferrari found their cars P2 and P5 after Qualifying. But Leclerc has a separate opinion about the improved performance of the Ferrari.
Charles Leclerc made changes to his driving style
During the Post Qualifying Press Conference, Leclerc was asked by Tom Clarkson about where he found the extra pace that helped Ferrari perform better than the previous two or three races. Leclerc immediately replied that the pace resulted from a change in his driving style.
Leclerc said, “I have quite an aggressive driving style and in those conditions, it just did not work for me. I was making too many mistakes and it was difficult to build from a solid base. So I changed a lit bit the approach and it seems to be better.”
However, despite their improvements, Leclerc also admitted that he knew that getting pole on track was not realistically possible. But even then, he feels pretty good about the fact that Ferrari is moving in the right direction.
Red Bull’s Masterclass in Belgium
Red Bull put up yet another incredible performance, and Max Verstappen absolutely blitzed the field with his last lap. He was about eight-tenths of a second faster than Leclerc, who was in P2. That speaks volumes about how good he is with the RB19.
As for his teammate, Perez also had a decent qualifying finishing P3. He would be lining up alongside Leclerc in the race on Sunday and would be trying his best to make a statement by fighting for the win.
Verstappen is super-confident that he can win the race even if he starts from P6. He explained that he had already done it starting from P14, and it was in a car that was not as good as the RB19 this year. Therefore, the best possibility for Leclerc is to ensure he finishes on the podium.
