21/11/2021
NEWS STORY
At a loss to explain his Q2 exit, it was subsequently discovered that Charles Leclerc's chassis was cracked.
In the moments following his exit from Q2, the Monegasque was as shocked as the rest of us.
"Normally I'm quite good at understanding what's wrong - in a qualifying lap especially - which is one of my strengths," said the youngster.
"But this one is a very strange one," he admitted. "I had no grip from all four tyres...
"It's not like I had a balance issue or anything like that," he continued. "I was just struggling with all four tyres with grip.
"So we need to look into it whether there was anything strange or not. If there's not anything strange, then I will be very happy to understand what I did wrong. Let's see."
Having assured his team that he was "on the limit", Leclerc ended Q2 almost three-tenths off his teammate's best.
What really puzzled him however was that the lack of grip came out of nowhere.
"I have no idea why, the tyres just felt at their limits," he admitted. "I don't know if I wasn't putting the car, the tyres in the right window before the lap. I have no idea for now, but we need to find an explanation.
"I'm pretty sure there's something that went wrong this qualifying, well obviously," he sighed, "I'm a second off on the first run of Q2, but something standing out and something quite big, because I just cannot explain it."
In fact, that "something quite big" turned out to be a cracked chassis, no doubt caused by the Monegasque running over one of the circuit's infamous kerbs in Q1.
"It's clear the damage to the chassis, that will now be replaced, influenced the car's behaviour," explained Laurent Mekies. "Now the mechanics face a major task to get the car fixed in time.
"If all the work is done within the time allowed by the sporting regulations, Charles will still start from his qualifying position," he added.
The kerbs have caused damage to a number of cars over the weekend, Pierre Gasly suffering a puncture after damaging his front wing in the dying moments of Q3.
Check out our Sunday gallery from Qatar, here.