Leclerc “extremely happy” with fourth in F1 British GP qualifying

Charles Leclerc says he did not expect to qualify fourth for Sunday’s Formula 1 British Grand Prix at Silverstone.

Leclerc was narrowly edged out by Red Bull’s Max Verstappen for third place in the dying stages of Q3.

Fourth is Ferrari’s best qualifying result of the season and more impressively for Leclerc, he will start the race on the more durable medium tyres - having progressed from Q2 to Q3 on them. 

Reflecting on his performance at Silverstone, Leclerc said: “I am extremely happy about today. I didn’t expect to be in P4 for tomorrow’s race, especially not starting with mediums. We tried it but we weren’t very confident about making it and to make it work was very nice.

“It’s looking good for the race tomorrow because of our race pace - we are struggling. I think we have the pace but we are just destroying the tyres very quickly compared to the others so starting on the medium will help us massively.’’

The wind is a big factor at Silverstone due to the circuit being located on the site of a former airfield.

The wind caught out many drivers in qualifying - including pole-sitter Lewis Hamilton who had a spin in Q2 at Luffield.

“First of all it is very challenging in a Formula 1 car without wind already because Maggots and Becketts - it’s crazy how quick that is,'' Leclerc added.

“With the wind, from FP3 and qualifying it’s been quite constant but from yesterday it changed completely and it changes completely the balance of the car. You need to adapt to it quickly because it really affects the balance of the car a lot.’’

Ferrari team-mate Sebastian Vettel was unable to match Leclerc's efforts and will line up tenth on the grid after the German had his final qualifying lap deleted due to exceeding track limits at Copse corner.