The Monegasque was outperformed by his teammate and by Norris in Q3, lost three tenths at turns 1 and 12 and found no solution.
Charles Leclerc has been disappointed after qualifying for the Hungarian Grand Prix. The Ferrari driver admitted that his pace was never at the level of his teammate Lewis Hamilton during Saturday's session at the Hungaroring. Leclerc, who took pole in 2025, set a time of 1m17.445s in Q3, while Hamilton recorded 1m17.219s and Lando Norris (McLaren) took pole with 1m17.207s. The difference was especially noticeable at two key corners of the Hungarian track.
"I'm a bit disappointed mainly because I didn't find a solution for turn 1 and turn 12 throughout the day. In FP3 I was already struggling with turn 1 and turn 12 and I was still losing three tenths or something in Q3 at those two corners. I'm very disappointed with that. I'm going to analyze it to try to fix it for tomorrow" declared Leclerc at the end of a session in which he never felt completely comfortable.
The Ferrari driver explained that the wind change affected him more than expected: "Today there was quite a bit of wind change and I think I didn't do a great job anticipating it with the car setup, I felt a bit off since this morning and then qualifying was quite chaotic to be honest. We couldn't find the right balance and that cost us dearly at the decisive moment" he added.
Leclerc also referred to bad luck in Q2 that conditioned his preparation for Q3: "We had a bit of bad luck in Q2 with the yellow flag in the last sector and then we were trying... We were playing catch up but the pace was never at Lewis's level, so it was about trying to maximize the day. I feel I did that, although I know it could have been better" said the Monegasque.
Despite the difficulties, Leclerc will start ahead of Hamilton on Sunday's grid because the Briton received a three place penalty after qualifying for impeding Oscar Piastri. This circumstance gives him a golden opportunity to score important points in Sunday's race. The Monegasque trusts the SF-26's race pace for Sunday's race.
"We were competitive all weekend, it's true that today everyone seems to have taken a big step forward that we didn't take, but there's still a long race tomorrow. I think our race pace is strong, but it's true that people have taken a step forward since yesterday, so I'm quite sure it's going to be very tight. On a circuit like this, the start will be especially key" concluded Leclerc, who knows that overtaking is extremely complicated at the Hungaroring.
The Monegasque will have to fight from the second row if he wants to score important points in Sunday's race. Hamilton's penalty and Norris's pole add excitement to a race that promises to be intense at the Hungaroring.
Leclerc, who has had an irregular start to the season, hopes that the SF-26's race pace will allow him to fight back and fight for the podium. The Monegasque is fifth in the drivers' championship, 68 points behind Kimi Antonelli, and needs to score points if he wants to keep his options in the title fight.
The start will be key, and Leclerc trusts that a good start will allow him to gain positions and fight for a good result in the last race before the summer break. The Hungarian Grand Prix always brings surprises, and the Monegasque hopes that this Sunday will be his opportunity to make a statement.
