‘The pace was not there’ – Leclerc ‘satisfied’ with P3 in Sao Paulo Qualifying amid ‘very difficult weekend’

Charles Leclerc was left pleasantly surprised after he secured third position on the grid for the Sao Paulo Grand Prix, marking a high point in what could have been a “disastrous” session for the Ferrari driver.

The Monegasque racer has had a rollercoaster of a weekend in Brazil so far, going from spinning in Sprint Qualifying and struggling to progress out of Q1, to ending up in P3 behind Lando Norris and Kimi Antonelli.

A combination of a lack of performance and the tricky weather conditions contributed to a mixed performance thus far, but he was pleased overall with how he managed to pull everything together for a strong Qualifying result.

“It's been a very, very difficult weekend so far,” he said. “I will take it. I’m very happy with the way we’ve performed, with the way we’ve executed everything because it was going to be a very difficult Qualifying for us.

“We haven’t revolutionised the car from Sprint Qualifying to Qualifying, but we did some fine tuning.

“It’s a matter of one tenth or one tenth-and-a-half from having a disastrous Qualifying to a very good Qualifying, with the gaps the way they are this weekend.”

Leclerc nearly spun out of the session at an early stage, but saved his car from the snap of oversteer and went on to manage the gusty conditions to displace Oscar Piastri for P3.

Nevertheless, Ferrari have been off the pace compared to their rivals, with Leclerc finishing the Sprint 12 seconds behind Max Verstappen – locked in a tight battle with Mercedes and Red Bull for P2 in the teams' standings, every point will matter.

He concluded: “P3 on a weekend like this is a really good result because the pace was not there. I will look forward, whatever our pace is, and try and do something special.

“I’m happy I could put everything together in Q2 and Q3. That was crucial for us because it was very on the limit. P3 – I’m satisfied with that.”